Time Travel
by YaoiCookie
Summary: Aerith invites Cloud to journey the past with her and intentionally causes him to screw up his own birth. Stuck as a girl, Cloud finds all his plans to save the world ruined and must find a new way to save Gaia. Fem!Cloud, Fem-slash, other warnings within
1. Chapter 1

**Notes**: This was, I confess, one of the hardest stories for me to write, and I came to a standstill 9 chapters in. I am not a big fan of Rule 63 (lol), but very recently I've been on a binge for it. To be honest, I'm more of a Trap fan...just funner that way!

**Warnings**: Things you'll more than likely find in this fic: threesomes, bisexuals, lesbians, gays, incest, attempted rapes, nasty shit, et cetera. Nothing too graphic, nothing parody like, but..._**You have been warned!**_

And, just something that I think is truly amusing about myself, I can read/write stories with impossible gender bending without batting a lash, but if I see Haku from Naruto written as a woman, I can't stomach it. XD

* * *

Time travel was a strange concept.

To be honest, when Aerith had first told him about it he'd been completely disbelieving. Time travel was nothing more than fantasy and fairy-tales, the type of things a person would wish for but could never achieve. When a mistake is made a person always wished to do it over; hindsight is twenty-twenty after all. Aerith had kept a serious expression on her face, however, patiently waiting for him to finish chuckling as she created a wreath of flowers, her mouth in a smile.

"…You're serious?" Cloud had raised a brow, somehow managing to calm himself. The pink clad woman nodded, her hands absently picking another flower. The two were having their yearly conversation, one that Aerith had insisted upon in order to keep him up-to-date with the dead. Somehow they had gone from reincarnation (the Lifestream was ready to spit Sephiroth back out) to time travel. Cloud would be the first to admit that he wished the past was a lot more peaceful than it was, but he didn't quite like what Aerith was implying.

"I've done it many times before," Aerith admitted with a nod, a small smile on her face.

"If that's true," Cloud began doubtfully, "then why is everything so…?" He made a vague gesture at her, his lips pulling into a frown. Aerith's hand squeezed the flower, though her smile remained.

"Every time I go back I change things," she giggled lightly, obviously recalling a few fonder moments. "I still remember when I managed to save the world and you became the General of the Shinra Army."

"No way…" He shook his head in disbelief, not even able to picture it in his mind. "You didn't answer the question though."

"You didn't exactly ask anything," she pointed out, putting the flowers over her mouth as he sent her a glare. With a sigh, Aerith began to explain herself, knowing that he would never forgive her if she didn't say it. "I've made the world a better place many times before," she mumbled, absently tugging up a new flower. "I've seen you married with kids, Vincent married with kids, Sephiroth and Yuffie together; no, don't ask." She still had no idea how she had managed that one. "I was a singer in one timeline, Hojo was a priest in another; but did it matter?

"You're not in those lines, Cloud. I mean, I love you in every one I've been in, but none of them are _this_ you." The blonde repressed a smile, feeling inexplicably happy at the confession. Contemplative green eyes were turned on him as Aerith continued her wreath, her fingers steady. "Do you want to try it out, Cloud?"

"Try what?" He questioned, content eyes focusing on the white sky. A flower smacked his head.

"Time travel, silly." She giggled, voice getting distant as the imagery began to fade. "Think it over, Cloud; I'll come back to talk to you soon." That had been weeks ago, the conversation still within Cloud's mind even as he delivered packages for well paying customers. Thankfully, no one looked him over in awe anymore, as those who recognized him on sight were long since gone from the world. Indeed, he was probably the only person still living who had knowledge of just what had happened to Midgar, rather, The Destroyed City and the once powerful presence of Shinra.

Not that he recalled most of the memories.

No, Cloud barely looked back on those times, having decided that living for the here and now was so much better than agonizing over a past that couldn't be changed. He had decided that on Tifa's deathbed, in fact, having promised the old and yet still beautiful woman that he would try not to let life depress him any longer. But that had been almost fifty years ago and Cloud could barely remember what Tifa sounded like anymore, so how was he supposed to remember how he'd saved the world?

And if he really could go back, did he have to save it?

Aerith had told him that he didn't have to save the world, that he could join the Honey Bee Inn if it suited his fancy (for some reason he'd shuddered at the thought, but he didn't quite remember _what_ the Honey Bee Inn was), or become a drug addict or, really, anything he wanted to do. "You'll probably choose to save the world though," she had lamented, putting a reef of flowers around his head.

"Why do you think that?" He'd wondered. She'd given a sad curl of her lips at the question, eyes losing their normal warmth.

"Because," she'd shrugged lightly, "anyone who travels back in time would want things to turn out better than before on the first time. I did it too." Sighing, Cloud finished up his delivery, knowing that the pink clad woman was right. Given an opportunity to go back into the past and choosing to do whatever he wanted was amazing, but he wanted to change things that had gone wrong the first time. Granted, he had to remember what had happened first.

"That's not going to be a problem," Aerith mused a few days later, leaning against his shoulder in her field of flowers. "When you first go back, your life flashes before your eyes; I remembered things that I never even knew of the last time. Childhood moments, even times when I was a toddler." Her face pulled into a frown. "It was…most disconcerting to remember my life in the labs."

"Can I bring anything with me?" Cloud wondered, dragging her away from the memories. She tilted her head at him.

"Nothing materialistic; swords, clothes, Fenrir; you have to leave it all behind. If it has a connection to the planet, however, then I can manage it, so your materia and a few of your accessories will be safe." He breathed a sigh of relief, then laid down and eyed the sky as he waited for her to do the honors of sending him back. Her smiling face hovered over his after a moment, her hand reaching down to ruffle his spikes. "I think I'll come back in my fifth year of life; that's when things started changing for me. If you want to come back around the same time as me, you'll have to be four."

"Are you sure?" He wondered hesitantly. "What about…?"

"My first few times through, I couldn't help but come back young enough to be with my mother," Aerith admitted softly, a little sadly. "But in the end, she never makes it; I've found it easier to simply give up on it. Now, close your eyes, Cloud." Complying, he did so, feeling her hand ghost over his eyes. "I'll see you in Nibelheim, Cloud; wait for me." Before he could respond, a burning feeling ran through his gut as his body lurched, then more than a hundred years worth of memories rewound past his tightly clenched eyes.

Everyday boring deals with customers, making deliveries, talks with Aerith; if he could have, Cloud would have went to sleep to avoid the memories. Then the things that he'd forgotten went through his mind, making him smile nostalgically. Faces of friends, enemies, Turks, Shinra, SOLDIER, his mom… "…Aerith, I forgot to ask you how to enter the world." Flushing, the blonde watched as the younger him prattled about his house; Gods, he'd been an angry child.

"Looks like I'll be here a few years earlier than expected." He blinked his eyes, smiling softly at the sight of his infant self screaming, then gagging as he was rewound through his own birth. He didn't need to see that. With a sigh, he felt himself being pulled into the world ahead of him, knowing that life was about to change. "I won't waste it, guys; I promise." With that, the blonde closed his eyes and waited, feeling himself compress tightly into a small ball as liquid surrounded him.

It was like being in the tubes of mako that Hojo had forced upon him, except comforting. It took him a second to realize he was in his mother's womb and an even longer one to realize that he had no body. _How far back did I go?_ Cloud wondered hesitantly, trying, and failing, to move. After a while, he gave up on trying to move and instead settled in to think about how he was going to help everyone. The closest people to him were Tifa, Vincent, Nanaki and Cid, though the last was probably in a flight program at Shinra at the moment and there was no telling how the other three would react to his words.

Then was Barrett and Yuffie, one who wasn't even born yet and the other who didn't know that Shinra would be an awful monster in the future; hell, Marlene wasn't even born yet. And there was no telling where Reeve was or if he was even interested in joining Shinra in this timeline. If he had lips, Cloud would have frowned. There were so many things to do and so few ways to do them; who would believe that a young child came from the future to make the world a better place?

And if he started to say things that he had no business of knowing, he had no doubt in his mind that he would be in Hojo's labs faster than he could blink.

And that was another thing; Hojo. Much as he hated the man, without all of his illegal tinkering, there was no way in hell would Cloud have stood a chance against Sephiroth. Or perhaps he would have; his memories did show him tossing the man into the Lifestream long before he'd become an experiment. _Lucky shot, Cloud,_ he thought to himself. _There's no way in hell Sephiroth would have allowed that to happen if he hadn't of been distracted._

Then there was Zack, who he had met on a mission to investigate the disappearance of two other Generals and…there was just far too much on his plate to get through in one setting! How the hell was he going to convince anyone? How the hell was he going to _help_ anyone? _I'll just have to ask Aerith,_ he realized. _Though I'm going to have to spend a few years without her help. In the meanwhile, I suppose I'll just have to get stronger._ Yes, grow smart, strong, fast and agile from an early age. There was nothing else for him to do, really.

However, Cloud found that he had an extra year to do nothing but think.

Trapped in his mother's womb, he had the misfortune to feel himself form into a baby, and he often heard conversations happening on the outside world when he finally grew ears. If he could have, the blonde would have happily left his mother's womb to give his own father the what for, considering the man was a bastard. His mother had never before spoken of who his father was or why his father had left, but now he knew. The man didn't want him, denied the paternity of him, and left his mother high and dry, hardly anything left to her name and a promise to make her life miserable if she ever told a soul.

Cloud felt himself groan in dismay as he realized that this was around the time his mother moved to Nibelheim, and couldn't help but give the poor woman a lot of harsh kicks for her stupid decisions in life. Honestly, he would have preferred growing up in the slums of Midgar, but he knew his mother chose such a far off place to avoid the shame of bumping into the married and successful man that, much to his surprise, disgust, shame and horror, bore the name of Shinra.

He'd always known that he and Rufus looked a bit too close for comfort.

As it was, when Cloud finally felt himself able to wriggle more freely, he'd wasted no time in trying to force his own birth, too happy to finally be free of the darkness to care that he was rushing into Nibelheim. He could hear the resident doctor telling his mother to push, hear his mother's panting cries as she requested morphine that the villagers refused to give, and see the light at the end of…well…Squeezing his eyes shut, Cloud felt his head being squeezed tightly by his mother's walls and felt himself wail at the pain to his frail body. It had been so long since he'd experienced any sort of pain and it hurt more than he expected that it should of.

"Ya did good, ya did good…" The doctor was muttering, even as Cloud felt a warm rag sliding over him, removing the blood from his person. He tried to open his eyes, to see who was in the room with him, to see his mother's face, but the bright light felt like torture to his still developing eyes. "Oh, lookit 'er, innit she a beaut?"

"What'cha ya gonna name her, Rayne?" Cloud felt himself drifting off as a pair of warm arms cradled him gently, a light kiss touching his head.

"Cloud," his mother's voice, finally speaking to him instead of far off to the distance. "I'll call her Cloud." It was only as his mind finally gave into rest that he realized that everyone was calling him a her, but by then he was far past caring.


	2. Chapter 2

Before I continue on with this story, let me just say that this one is **not** up for adoption. Yes, that was read right; Any story of mines that lacks the adoption warning in chapter one is not up for adoption. PERIOD.

**Poll Alert:** Speaking of my stories and their adoptions, a new poll is out that allows readers to vote on which of my stories will be continued, and if I should continue to pump out new fiction in the meanwhile! Viggity vote for your favorite story and whether or not I should continue posting new fics; voters seem to be a bit confused about that second vote, hehehe.

* * *

Cloud Strife eyed his room with lidded eyes.

He had no idea why, but his _mother_ assumed that he would enjoy having pink littered across every surface. Then there were the stuffed animals, each handmade and full of love and care; with a sigh, he grabbed a garbage bag and began to toss them. He had no idea how many times he had told her that under _no_ circumstance was he to have such girly things in his room. He wanted books, books and nothing more than books, having already _taught_ himself how to read at the tender age of three.

"But Cloud," Rayne Strife had lamented. "You're such a pretty young girl; you should be wearing dresses and knocking the poor little boys' hearts out!" Cloud resisted the urge to growl as he tossed his pink blanket into the trash. He had no idea how or why, but somehow, some-awful-way-how, he had managed to be born as a girl. Granted, there were a million and one worst things he could have been born as, but he honestly would have preferred that to being born a girl.

Cloud was sure that his Tifa would have been pissed off had she heard his thoughts, would have thought him sexist and a slew of other things as she shunned him until he begged for forgiveness, but she would have been far from the problem. The thing was, being born as a girl was probably the _worst_ thing that could have ever happened to him, especially as he was born in backwater, superstitious _Nibelheim._

For one, girls in the village were _supposed_ to have long hair; much as Cloud hated it, that was one of the few things he adhered to as he didn't want his mom to suffer anymore stigmas than she was already under. Another thing that he loathed with a passion but suffered for his mom was wearing dresses and skirts, as a woman wasn't _proper_ in Nibelheim if they wore anything else. Granted, his dresses and skirts were long, ugly and went down to his feet to drape, completely defeating the reason for a skirt, but Cloud refused to budge an inch on the issue.

He had even taken up sewing, though much to his mom's dismay it was merely to add on extra length to the short skirts she kept trying to stick him in.

However, perhaps the worst thing about being a girl to Cloud, was that women weren't allowed to join SOLDIER. The plans that he'd made, the hours of thought and different scenarios that his new actions would cause; all of it was for naught. There were no women in SOLDIER, _ever,_ and not even a kick ass woman could change that rule. As such, Cloud felt he had a right to hate what he had become, and thus he didn't bother to accept himself as he was. To Cloud, he was still a man, even when he wore a dress and had the body of a small, young girl.

One of the only persons who actually knew his thoughts was his mother, though she never discussed the issue with him, instead trying to _make her see sense_ by constantly trying to add a feminine influence on her strange daughter. And, though Cloud did nothing to make the villagers think anymore ill to the already disgraced family, in the privacy of home, he wouldn't have it.

"Oh, Cloud," Rayne sighed, entering his room just as he finished tossing the last teddy bear into the trash.

"Where are my books, _mother_?" He wondered loftily, refusing the urge to flinch in guilt at his mom's sad eyes. "How am I suppose to be a scientist without my books?" And that was another reason why his mother wasn't too keen on letting him live the life he chose. Before he was born, Rayne use to be a scientist working for Shinra, who she had fallen in love with despite him being a married man. She knew exactly what sort of horrors her child would more than likely fall to if he, she in her mind, went to work for that man. Especially as Shinra grew more and more popular by the day, not that she would ever tell Cloud that directly.

But he didn't really care about that. After all, there were only three ways that the blonde could possibly get back into a position to help the ones he cared for; the first was to become a high ranking official in the Shinra base. However, Cloud was under no illusion as to how Scarlet had gotten her position, and he'd be damned if he became a mistress to his own father…Or to anyone, really. The second thing he could do was become a Turk; they held no illusions about the deadliness of women, but he didn't think he could stomach the dirty missions they were often forced to do.

Well, that, and he was under no illusion that he would probably kill President Shinra the first time he was finally given the mission to protect him or escort him somewhere.

That left the last thing that he could do to be in the thick of the action, becoming a scientist. And he already had so many plans and ideas as he imagined it. All he had to do was get close to Hojo and end his life, then end the life of any others that seemed too similar to the bastard; he would then take over the Science Program and rewire it from the inside. No more harmful mako treatments, free Hojo's experiments, let the world see how much of a dirty bastard Shinra was, save the planet; all after he destroyed Jenova, of course.

"Honestly, _mother_, I wish you would stop coming into my room and touching my things," Cloud lamented to the woman, taking his books out of the closet to stack them back into their proper spaces.

"And I wish that you would behave more like a _proper_ young lady," Rayne countered with her hands on her hips. "And where did that expensive looking watch come from? I don't recall ever giving you enough money to buy anything like that."

"I found it, mom," Cloud rolled his eyes, putting his hair into a tight, no nonsense bun.

"Found it where?" She demanded. He said nothing, knowing that she would only grow angry and concerned in righteous, parental fury. After all, what parent would ever approve of their child going into the dangerous Nibelheim mountains alone in the middle of the night? Rayne sighed in exasperation and turned from the door, her slippers padding softly on the floor as she made her exit. "You'd better have your butt in the kitchen to help me cook in ten minutes, young lady!"

"Yes ma'am!" With a frown on his face, Cloud turned to the small mirror in his room and eyed himself in dismay. He really hated lying to his mom, but he didn't know what else to do. How was he to explain to her that the items had been appearing around Nibelheim ever since a year or so ago on February 7th, Aerith's very own fifth birthday, and that he seemed to get a feeling whenever they showed up? Already, he had found his Precious Watch that he'd gotten from betting on the Chocobo Races, all eight slots full of mastered materia, along with his Ribbon that he'd always had on his skin.

It only lent proof that Aerith had finally come into the world and he was both dreading and waiting anxiously for the day she arrived in Nibelheim. She had already told him in the previous life that it would be where they would meet, though he dreaded her reaction when she saw him as a young girl. "Honestly, I would feel so much more comfortable if Tifa had been born as a man," he grumbled under his breath. "At least then I would know that I'm not the only one screwed up here."

Of course, Tifa was still the young and popular girl that she had always been, despite only being a precocious four year old. She was, after all, the mayor's daughter and most likely to be successful in the village. She was also Cloud's best friend and a secret tomboy at heart, though, like Cloud, she hid the truth from everybody to avoid the villagers giving her a hard time. Granted, she still had dreams of a hero coming to save her someday, but Cloud was sure that he was getting to her by constantly telling her how stupid she was for wanting to be put in a bad situation in the first place.

Honestly, kids reacted to the strangest things.

With a put out sigh, the blonde made his way to the kitchen, clad in a comfortable pair of slacks that his mother would never dare allow him in outside. Rayne gave him a lidded stare for somehow managing to salvage the pants that she'd put through the ringer and tossed in the trash just the night previous, though Cloud merely gave her an innocent look. The pants that she'd cut up, dampened with oil and tossed mud on were still in the trash, but Cloud had made sure to make sixteen pairs of the same pants just in case.

"What are we making today, mom?" He wondered, peering at the ingredients left out on the counter. There was a lot there, far more than just for two.

"We have to make up a few dishes to welcome the visitors on their way here," Rayne admitted, a light frown to her face as she eyed Cloud. "We'll both make something different, but I really want you to try your best today, Cloud. Some of Shinra's employees will be dropping by." Cloud stiffened, getting a narrowed eyed look from his mother. "And yes, that does mean that you _have_ to be a proper young lady for today, sweetheart. The villagers are already looking for reasons to throw mud on me."

"…Of course," Cloud mumbled, not bothering to correct his mom's assumptions that he had stiffened because he would have to wear a cute dress and get his hair done. No, he knew the exact reason why Shinra would be sending employees, especially if a young and rather recently escaped Ancient mentioned the planet calling her in said direction to her new and rather poor mother. What else could the greedy Shinra do other than pay for her to come to the place, especially if it led to the Promised Land?

_Aerith's going to laugh at me,_ Cloud lamented darkly, putting his hair into two pigtails under his mother's watchful gaze. She'd sewn up a pretty red dress to go along with the look; under normal circumstances, the blonde would have protested vehemently over the new dress, but then he'd caught sight of Tifa's and his mouth had clicked closed at once. Honestly, it felt like the villagers of Nibelheim were trying to _sell_ their children to the Shinra employees, no doubt trying to get their families wealthy.

"Now, apply the makeup, sweetheart."

"Mom~!" He whined. She gave him a strict look, making him sigh in disgust as he applied the smallest amount of blush to his cheeks. Rayne added clip-on earrings and a little lip gloss to his lips to go along with his look as he gave himself a light dusting of eye shadow, then she pulled back and looked him over with a critical eye.

"You look so cute!" Rayne finally squealed after a moment, her face in a beaming smile. Cloud looked into the mirror and smoothened out his dress, his face in an expression of disgust.

"I look like a whore," he corrected her, crossing his arms over his chest. "And you should be ashamed of yourself for making your daughter look like a trashy _skank_ in the presence of strange, unknown and grown men." Fifteen minutes later, Cloud stood inside of the Nibelheim Inn, his mouth still stinging from the smack his mother had given him. Tifa was chuckling softly beside him, having been told the story shortly after he entered the inn and joined her side.

"Y'er such an idiot, Cloud," she whispered, attempting to look innocent as her father shot her a look. Another giggle left her throat when the man turned away. "Ah couldn't ehver imagine saying that ta father; Ah'd probably be beaten within an inch of mah life."

"Nah, he wouldn't dare," Cloud stated, shooting the man a dirty look. "How do you think the other villagers would respond? They'd probably lynch him."

"Shh!" Old man Belby put a hand to his lips, looking over at Cloud with a filthy look. The blonde gave him his own glare, making him uncomfortably turn around after a moment.

"Honestly," he grumbled to Tifa, who was desperately trying not to laugh. "They act like it will be them getting fame if any of us gets noticed…and who wants their kids to be noticed by grown men anyway? That's so gross…" A truly, _truly_ backwater town. Cloud straightened out his spine as the sound of a car went through the silent village, feeling his heart beat anxiously as the car door opened and closed a few times.

"Aerith? Aerith! Don't run off too far!" A young and rather familiar voice shouted. Elmyra, Cloud realized, Aerith's adopted mother.

"And go where?" A young and innocent voice questioned. "This town is too small to get lost in, mom." A sigh was her response, before footsteps began to come towards the inn. "I can hold open the door for myself," the young girl insisted firmly.

"Aerith, please-"

"It's alright," a smooth voice interjected, cutting off Elmyra's protests at once. Tseng, Cloud realized, wiping his suddenly clammy palms on his dress. "Go ahead, young Aerith, I will gather your bags."

"Thank you, Tseng," Elmyra stated, even as the door was pushed open to reveal a young girl with bright blue eyes and a long brown braid. She glanced curiously at the young girls and boys standing all dolled up before her, before her blue eyes came to rest on Cloud. She blinked in bemusement, her eyes slowly raking over him, before she caught his eyes with a raised brow. The blonde shifted in nervousness as he sent her a tiny nod, revealing that it was really him, and also hoping that she wouldn't give into that laughing glint in her eyes.

His mother would kill him.

"Look mom," Aerith stated, humor obvious in her voice as she tugged on Elmyra's dress. "They look so pretty and handsome, like dolls!" As though breaking the dam, Mayor Lockhart came forward to welcome the family and Shinra workers to Nibelheim as he introduced everyone, and the girls began to pass out the food they'd worked so hard to make. When it was Cloud's and Rayne's turn, the blonde practically shoved the food in Aerith's hand, getting a withering look from his mother even as Aerith giggled brightly.

"Oh, you're so pretty, _Miss Cloud!"_ Cloud shot her a sulky look, though he was thankful that he would soon get to talk to her and see what the hell went wrong with his birth, even as he drew back to hang around Tifa once again.

"She called ya pretty," Tifa noted with a grin, getting a deadpanned look from the blonde. "The uhther parents are going ta be jealous and disappointed that ya caught their 'tention first."

"Good on them," he muttered bitingly, even as he pretended to perk up as his mother beckoned him to go home and change.

"Ah hope ya don't wear one of yer ugly dresses," Tifa's nose curled on his back. "Ah can jes ahmagine everyone's reactions tuh yer family if ya did that." In truth, Cloud had been going home to wear one of his "ugly dresses," though the younger girl did have a point. If Cloud did anything to embarrass Nibelheim anymore than they already embarrassed themselves, he had no doubt that the villagers would loathe his mother forever. Thus, much to his mom's pleasant surprise, the blonde put on a decent skirt and shirt that he had yet to adjust when he got back home.

"I'm only doing it to make sure the villagers leave you alone," he uncomfortably stated as the woman pulled him into a tight hug. Granted, he wished she had actually listened to him as she forced him to wear a pair of matching boots and combed out his hair, but at least he was allowed to wash off his makeup before he was forced to go outside to try to _get to know_ the young Aerith Gainsborough; in other words, to make sure the blossoming Shinra company had nothing bad to say about their town.

By the time he arrived outside, Aerith was surrounded by all of the young boys in the village, obviously trying to impress her with their meager skills, though she only held a rather bemused look in her eye as she watched them. The moment she caught sight of Cloud, however, Aerith politely excused herself from the group and made her way over, catching many eyes for her action. It took the young girl a moment to stop in front of him and Cloud took the opportunity to look her over.

She was a very pretty young girl, the signs of her blossoming beauty already evident in her young face as she smoothened out her yellow sundress that she was no doubt regretting to wear in the cold mountainous place she had been escorted to. Aerith stopped before him, giving him a look over as well, before teasing eyes finally connected to his. "The planet told me to come to you," she stated in jest, though her eyes were serious as she sent a glance over her shoulder to the watching Tseng.

"I only wish you had come sooner," Cloud admitted, hiding his lips so that the Turk wouldn't be able to know their conversation. "I'm rather curious to find out what the hell happened to me, Aerith." The young girl held out her arm and Cloud wove his own into it, then gently led her over to his house so that the two could talk more privately. He could see many dismayed and oddly proud parents peering out of their windows at him, though he paid it no mind as he invited the young girl into his house.

"Cloud honey, I thought I told you to-" Rayne cut herself off as she caught sight of the two children linked together, her face in a beaming smile once again. "Oh, hello dear. Have you and Cloud already become friends?"

"She's really sweet!" Aerith giggled, making Cloud clench her arm in warning. "I just wanted her to show me her room." Rayne's smile became rather fixed at the admittance and Cloud resisted the urge to sigh, even as Aerith quickly did damage control. "I'll bet she has all sorts of books! Do you think we can compare?" Quickly, the young blonde nodded, dragging Aerith pass his stunned mom who seemed to have forgotten that Aerith came from the city and shouldn't have known what a _proper_ girl was supposed to be if it bit her on the ass.

The moment they were in his room, Cloud locked his door, not wanting his mom to interrupt the important conversation that was about to take place. Turning around, he was expecting to see Aerith staring him over with a confused frown, not digging through his closet and shaking her head in dismay. "Oh, Cloud," the brunette girl lamented as she turned to him. "I thought with your clothes and that look…but then I see the rest of it…" She tossed her hands in the air, her disgust evident. "This simply won't do!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Aerith?" He wondered, tossing himself down on his bed as he watched her puttering about the room and shaking her head. "No, don't answer that; just tell me what the hell I did wrong to turn myself into _this?"_ He gestured to himself, getting an amused stare from the girl.

"Obviously, Cloud, you went back a little too far." A giggle left her lips at his expression. "The magic in you disrupted your development and turned you into a pretty young girl."

"I don't believe this…" The blonde muttered in exasperation. "You knew this was gonna happen, didn't you?" Aerith nodded unrepentantly, though her mischievous expression softened as he sent her a look of hurt. "Aerith, how could you? Do you know how hard you've made things for me?"

"Oh, Cloud…" With a sigh, the young Ancient sat on the bed beside him and wrapped her arms around him. "I know it seems a little cruel, but I don't want you to go through what I did on my first time back." There was a note of pain in her voice that he didn't like to hear, though she continued on speaking before he could say anything. "In the beginning, I tried so hard to change everyone's life, trying to keep things going the same way so that I could meet everyone again, only for the ending to turn out differently.

"My first time through the past, I was a young boy who still managed to date Zack," she admitted with a blush. "I sold flowers and was a little too feminine to be proper. I had a bodyguard called Cloud Strife who was a little confused about his sexuality when he met me." The blonde flushed as she giggled. "There was a woman named Tifa Lockhart who was very insecure about herself when she noticed Cloud had phantom feelings for the Flower Boy and so many other things that stayed the same and changed as I went along.

"Like the fact that I had survived Sephiroth's attack." Blue eyes peered up at her in surprise, though she shook her head and silently pleaded for him to remain silent. He did so, though a feeling of dread went through him as she continued on. "I felt so proud of myself for having changed things so much, though from that point on so many other things had changed. Despite myself, I couldn't help but remain faithfully by your side; Tifa grew bitter and jealous, and she allowed herself to become distracted enough to be seriously wounded during a battle with Jenova. She died.

"Barret's anger grew at the death of his good friend and he tried to take on the Calamity by himself, despite our harsh warnings. He died. Cid suffered major injuries trying to help Barret escape and we lost the many lives of crew members from the Highwind. Vincent gave up on us and decided that he would get his revenge on Hojo alone; we never saw him again." She sighed, even though he felt himself curling up with horror. "You see, Cloud, I thought that, if I kept everything as close to the original timeline as possible, with only a few major changes here and there, we'd make it to a happier ending.

"But even the smallest changes can lead to something entirely new happening that we would have no knowledge of coming. For the longest time, I blamed myself for it, even though I knew I had no way of knowing it would have happened."

"Then, my plans…?" He whispered.

"There is no telling what any action would have led to," she admitted, though not unkindly. Her fingers brushed through his hair. "So I made it different for you; I know for a fact that women can't join SOLDIER, so I knew you would have to do something different, saving you from that sort of torture. Because I know you, Cloud, and I know that you would have let any failures burden you for many years to come." He gave a bitter smile, though a feeling of pity went through him at what she had to face alone.

"You know me too well," he mused, then felt himself stiffen as the Cetra's annoyed blue eyes gazed into his own.

"Yes," she admitted, tightening her grip on him as he tried to move. "I also know you well enough to realize that you wouldn't just accept yourself overnight, so I gave you almost a whole _five_ _years_ to get use to it." Aerith popped him on the head as struggled to get free, a sigh of fond exasperation on her lips. "Alas, I only find you with a bunch of ugly dresses and skirts so long they defeat the purpose of being called skirts!"

"Aerith~!" He whined as her grip tightened again.

"And I bet you don't even see yourself as a girl, Cloud, you fool of a person!" She shook her head in dismay, before finally letting him go as she stood up to look at the books he had on display. Cloud rubbed at his arms and glared at her as she made noises in the back of her throat, pulling books out of their places to look them over. "You're planning on joining the Science Department?" She finally wondered, a bit of surprise in her voice as she turned to see him give a sharp nod. "Funny, I would have thought the Turks for sure; you may even be in charge of looking after me someday."

"I didn't even think of that," he admitted, frowning softly. "But I don't think that I could ever be a Turk; the missions that they do…murdering, kidnapping, forcing poor people to become experiments..."

"As a scientist, you'd have to be the one doing the experiments," Aerith pointed out, making him pale at the thought. "Are you sure you could stomach it, Cloud? Are you sure that you can even go inside of a lab without panicking?" To be honest, no, he wasn't, but what else could he do? He wasn't exactly left with a lot of options here. "Well," Aerith pointed out to him after he asked, a look of distaste on her face as she tossed an ugly flower printed dress to the floor. "Did you ever think about making Shinra notice you, Cloud?"

"_Notice_ me?" He tilted his head in thought, before disgust shined on his face. "First off Aerith, ew; that's fuckin _guh-ross_. Second, did you know that Shinra is actually my father?" The Ancient looked at him with wide eyes, obviously stunned at the admittance, though he merely shrugged. "It's true; I overheard him and my mother while I was…in her womb." He shuddered.

"You do know that that makes you Rufus's older half-brother, right?" She wondered, resisting the urge to laugh hysterically as he gave a disgusted nod. "But, Cloud, that wasn't what I was talking about when I said get Shinra to notice you. There are many different ways you could do that without…doing _that_." Her nose scrunched up in distaste.

"Like how?" The blonde wondered, mind drawing a blank. She gave him an annoyed look for not thinking.

"First off, Cloud, becoming a strong woman; and I don't mean a tomboy either. You know that the only things that catch Shinra's attention are money, power and beautiful women." He nodded slowly, though he was disgusted at the thought of getting that man to notice him in such a way; even if he had never found out about his heritage, he still would have been repulsed by the idea. "Second, you have to become a rival to Shinra."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" He wondered at once, brow raised in disbelief. "People all over the world are going to be after Shinra when they get their SOLDIER Program out in the open. And that's not even mentioning the people that flocked to them because of Sephiroth!"

"True," she nodded. "But just as many people were angry about the planet becoming such an awful place and defected from there. And I'm sure that, if a certain Strife were to put all of _her_ funds into it, another power source could be created that works remarkably similar to the ones of the future." Cloud's eyes lit up at the thought, before he felt a frown touch his lips again.

"In case you haven't noticed though, Aerith, that certain _male _Strife is currently broke."

"And that same Strife happens to be good enough with technology that _she_-"

"He!"

"-was able to make _her_-"

"His!"

"-own sword and motorcycle in the future." The Cetra ignored his outbursts. "Not to mention, a certain Ancient has been getting clear messages from the planet that has led her to this special young _girl_, messages which often mention the Promised Land. Don't you see, Cloud?" Nope, he didn't see a damn thing. Aerith smacked the back of his head, making him realize that he'd said it aloud. "So long as I keep making vague references about the Promised Land to them, Shinra will be more than happy to fund you up nicely, though they will be keeping an eye on you as well. As long as we're discreet, however, we can use them to finance our own rival business to Shinra!"

"That's fuckin stupid," Cloud muttered, though a grin was on his face as Aerith's hand twitched to hit him again. "Do you know how much convincing it's going to take for President Shinra to finance something that could be a dead-end? Besides, how long will it take them to realize something's fishy with your story when I can't even use materia yet? Aside from my surprising parentage and being unnaturally smart, there's nothing remotely remarkable about-why are you looking at me like that?" He cautiously stared over at the suddenly grinning Ancient, who hummed lightly at him.

"You're absolutely right, Cloud," she murmured, eyes glinting. "Tseng is only going to think that I took a fancy to a smart little girl if he doesn't see proof with his own eyes that you're special. I suppose we'll just have to change that." Half an hour later, Cloud was rather scared and nervous as he wondered just _how_ Aerith was planning on proving to Tseng that he was a special…girl. Especially as she had pleaded, quite successfully, with her adopted mother and the Turk to take them up on the mountains.

Somehow or other, they had even convinced _his_ mom to join, and Cloud couldn't help but be worried about her fate in the monster infected place. Thankfully, Tseng had a sniper rifle, and any monsters getting too bold were made quick work of as Aerith "felt the planet" pulling her into the heart of the mountain. As they reached a cavern where a mako pool would later sit in the future, Cloud felt his body tense, catching the ever watchful attention of Tseng.

"Are you alright?" The Turk wondered, though his voice seemed to fade in Cloud's ears as whispers sounded all throughout the room. Aerith collapsed onto the floor with her hand on her ears, though Cloud was sure he saw a satisfied smirk on her face before she fell, even as he turned his attention to the low rumbling that had started in the cave. "Everybody out!" Tseng barked, quickly grabbing Aerith as Rayne turned to her own child, though Cloud realized at once that his warning was too late as a familiar burning smell went through his nose.

From the floor came a sprouting well of mako, getting larger as the floor cracked beneath the pressure, and the blonde felt his eyes widen as it headed directly for him. _Aerith, what the hell?_ He shouted in his mind, even as his feet were rooted to the ground by invisible hands as the mako made its way to him. Closing his eyes tightly, the blonde felt himself scream out in pain as he was suddenly covered in the burning liquid, even as he felt a dainty hand grab hold of him desperately.

"_Relax, Cloud,"_ Aerith's voice, soothing and calm. _"It will all be over soon."_ Cloud felt tears of pain ooze from his eyes as his body quickly healed the wounds he knew he should have still had. He expected to wake up to years having passed as he knew he had a pitiful reaction to mako, though when his eyes finally opened it was to see his mom's bright hair cascading over his face as her body racked with sobs, the same thing seemingly happening over Aerith's prone form.

"Mom?" He rasped, cursing the fact that his voice sounded so…appropriate for his feminine body. Rayne gasped in a sharp breath of air at his voice, her eyes quickly turning to him in amazement as Tseng did the same.

"When did you-?!" Rayne stuttered, her breath catching in disbelief. "How did you-?!"

"_Cloud, over here!"_ The blonde gingerly sat up from his mom's slackened grip, feeling his eyes widen as he caught sight of the cave. The mako pool was back, though the materia that had formed inside of it wouldn't appear for another few years, and in the middle of it stood Aerith. Not the little girl cradled desperately in Elmyra's arms, but his Aerith, who was shooting her mother a sad look.

"Oh god," Cloud gasped. "Are you-?"

"_No, no, I'm not dead!"_ She interrupted him, rolling her eyes afterwards. _"But I will be if we don't hurry up with this conversation; remember, we have to make Tseng think that you're going to help lead to the Promised Land! So as of this moment, Cloud, I am Gaia."_

"Gaia?" He repeated dubiously, staring at her with a deadpanned expression.

"_Yes, Gaia,"_ Aerith flushed. _"And Aerith is an Ancient; now, I want you to say, An Ancient? And look at my younger self when you do, okay? And do it right, Cloud, or so help me-!"_

"An Ancient?" Cloud repeated, turning to gaze upon Aerith's prone form. He felt a well of sadness enter him; how he hated to see her like that. "Is Aerith going to return to you now?"

"_Oh, good one!"_ The Ancient gave him two thumbs up, making him smile, though he quickly played it off as a look of relief. _"Anyways, I want you to protect Aerith with everything that you are! …Because you're still her bodyguard and she never did get the chance to give you that date. I mean, I can't believe Barret got to you first!"_

"What's a Promised Land?" Cloud wondered dryly, resisting the urge to face palm as he got the sheepish Aerith back on track. He felt Tseng stiffen behind him, though he continued to look at Aerith with a look of awe on his face.

"_You know good and well what the Promised Land is,"_ she muttered. _"And I don't __**ever**__ want to see it being used again! Now, nod your head and say mako, but say it like it's some sort of epiphany. Like…Mako~…"_

"I see," Cloud ignored her, getting a frustrated look in return. "The Promised Land is full of mako then? Is that where you took Aerith? When is she coming back?"

"_Oh, fine! Ad lib then!"_ Rolling her eyes, the Cetra made her way toward him. _"Hold out your hands, Cloud."_ He did so, his brow raised in confusion. _"When I give you this, it will allow you to understand the spirits of the Lifestream,"_ Aerith told him seriously. _"You have to promise to always take care of it…and I'll only give it to you if you behave like the beautiful woman I know you can be."_ She peered into his now annoyed eyes as he forced himself not to blush. _"Promise me, Cloud; the clock's ticking. Aerith's time in this line will be up if you don't give into her whims~!"_

"If I promise," he muttered, "then you promise to give her back?" Aerith nodded wholeheartedly, making him give out a sigh of annoyance. "Fine, I promise; but only because Aerith is my friend."

"_For always, Cloud,"_ she beamed at him, before placing her hands over his. The mako in the cave began to bubble and rise as it came towards his hands, before it swirled together above them, forming into a small white ball of materia as Aerith vanished, the younger version of herself breathing in a desperate gasp of air as she returned to the living. Eyes were staring between the two as they turned to look at each other with wide eyes, before Aerith launched herself at Cloud with a smile.

"It was amazing!" The young girl exclaimed a short while later, sitting on her bed in the inn as Cloud examined him…herself in the mirror. His…her eyes held a familiar glow, one that had once took five years to get to such a bright intensity. Behind her sat Rayne, who was brushing out her golden locks with jittery hands, even as Elmyra kept a firm hand on Aerith's legs as the young girl explained to Tseng what she had, but hadn't actually seen. "There were these large creatures sleeping in mako that stretched on for so long!"

"WEAPONS," Cloud corrected her absently, turning Tseng's attention to him…her as she looked down at her hands. "Gaia's last defenses." Lips pursed, the blonde turned her hands around and looked at them, questioning herself loud enough for Tseng to hear her. "Am I a WEAPON too?"

"What else happened?" The Wutainian man urged, recording the entire conversation.

"Well, there was this tall and beautiful woman," the young Ancient endorsed herself shamelessly, "who told me that everything would be okay, because Cloud was going to save me."

"I didn't think she was all that tall or beautiful," Cloud interjected softly, resisting the urge to smile as Aerith twitched. "And I think she was a little nuts; She had a really stupid fuckin name, too."

"Cloud," Rayne warned.

"Sorry mom," he…she muttered sheepishly as Aerith sulked silently, before once again getting back to topic. "And I still don't get it; what's so important about you Aerith? She seemed like she knew you. And this Promised Land, what is it? It didn't look like much to me."

"Perhaps it didn't seem like much because you weren't really there?" Tseng wondered silkily, making the blonde pause thoughtfully. "Maybe things will be different if you were to actually go there?"

"I…"

"No!" Aerith exclaimed, shaking her head rapidly. Cloud turned to her in surprise, wondering at what she was playing at, though she merely shook her head at hi-her. "No, Cloud, you shouldn't talk about the Promised Land to bad people!"

"Aerith-" Tseng was interrupted as a foot connected to his shin, making Cloud withhold a snort of amusement as Aerith quickly ran over to her and grabbed her hand.

"Come with me!" Breaking free of his mother's startled hold, she followed Aerith from the inn room, though the Ancient didn't take them far, only leading them to a bathroom whose door she left half cracked. _Follow my lead, Cloud._ The blonde's eyes widened in surprise at the voice in hi-her head, before Aerith tapped the White Materia she held in her hair.

_Of course,_ Cloud felt herself grow exasperated. _I can understand spirits in the Lifestream…_Why hadn't she just said that they would be able to communicate mentally in the first place?

"Tseng works for bad people!" Aerith whispered, not paying attention as said man's presence hovered outside of the door. "If we take him to the Promised Land, I just know he'll do something bad to it!" _So that's what you're playing at._ The Ancient winked at her.

"But, what about me?" Cloud wondered softly, tilting her head a bit. "I want to see the Promised Land, to see why Gaia called me her WEAPON."

"Oh, Cloud." Sniffling lightly, Aerith dragged her into a hug, happily running her fingers through her brushed out hair._ It's so soft!_ "I promise, someday we'll go to the Promised Land together, but we can't take anyone bad with us."

"I don't need _you_ to go to the Promised Land," she muttered, though she hugged Aerith back tightly. _Watch the tangles, please._ "Gaia told me how to get there, too."

"Please…" _What tangles?_

"But I get the feeling," he-she, dammit all!- continued. "I get the feeling that bad things will happen if I go there without you." _The ones around the back of my neck._

"I feel the same," she whispered. "I feel like…like…" _These ones?_

"Like we were meant to go together," Cloud finished with a wince, getting a sharp nod and a mischievous smile from her. "Fine," she finally sighed, pulling away from a disappointed Aerith. "I won't tell Tseng or-or anyone else how to get to the Promised Land, but I still want to go." She tapped at her chin. "And I want to know why you being a Cetra is so important. She said I would find the answer in the City of the Ancients, but I didn't really understand. Does Bone Village ring any bells to you?"

"I…think I've heard that name before," Aerith drew back from her, satisfied as they felt Tseng's excitement spike up. "I've heard that name before, I'm sure…perhaps, from mama…" She shook her head. "But it doesn't matter now, does it? There's no way the adults would let us go and I have to go back to Midgar soon." _Not to mention, I'm not taking you anywhere if you don't start behaving more like a young lady!_ Cloud blanched.

"Then we'll have to do it when we're older someday," she muttered sullenly. "Promise me that you'll help me get to the Promised Land, Aerith?"

"Only if you promise me the same." The two shook on it, then began to make their way out of the bathroom, each sharing a surprised look when Tseng seemed to literally vanish from the room. _Damn, he's good!_ Aerith mentally exclaimed.

_I'm so glad that he lost a lot of his skills to old age,_ Cloud agreed with her silently, even as the two made their way back to the inn room, wondering how the future would pan out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes:** Sadly missed my own scheduled updates, but I've been particularly busy these days. Shout out to Wrin who helped to point out something confusing in the last chapter without rubbing it in my face. Very polite person. :) I finally changed the sentence to be proper too. ^^

**Please let me know** if you spot any mistakes; As the author it's rather hard to proof read your own stuff, and you do tend to grow to loathe your own stories as you constantly go over them.

As previously mentioned, I've been very busy (being a hero). Helping suicidal friends, helping immigrants that can't speak English well that are totally being taken advantage of, giving motivation that I lack myself to others, being a hypocrite, stalking Noel Fielding, making love to The Mighty Boosh...Sometimes I think I should write a book about my life. o.e

Also, I was quite surprised that no one realized Aerith's eyes changed from green in chapter one to blue later in the story; it's not a mistake. Just thought I'd put that out there.

**Side Notes:** Something I've always noticed about many time travel stories with Cloud living as a child again is that he never has a conflict with his mom, who is generally a perfect woman who can do no wrong to him. I've always thought there should be drama between them, after all, Cloud is an adult in a child's body who shouldn't just bend over backwards and take it. Just warning people now that the woman known as Rayne Strife is not perfect and won't have a perfect relationship with her son/daughter. If a broken bond between mothers and their children disturb you in any way, go to the ghetto and get your perfect lenses broken. :)

Also, **please let me know** if the mental conversations are getting confusing to you. I'll add 'thought parenthesis's' to them if that's the case.

* * *

It was official; Rayne Strife loved Aerith Gainsborough.

Cloud could feel her mother beaming from all the way across the room as she tossed all of her ugly dresses into the trash, having been given a few newer and cuter ones by Elmyra, who had scrunched up her nose in distaste when she saw the dresses in Cloud's closet. Aerith had only been in Nibelheim for three days and she'd already made quite the impact on the little village, though it was mainly because she'd somehow managed to make the village disgrace act like a proper girl.

Tseng had taken to giving the two space, much to Aerith's happiness, as he was joined shortly into their visit by two other Turks and was telling them of the events that they'd missed. Cloud had no doubt that Hojo already knew about the details and she wondered what Shinra would be thinking when he finally heard about Aerith's surprising companion. Did the man even know the name of the woman he had been messing around with? He certainly had never shown any recollection of knowing Cloud in the proper timeline, even after hearing his last name.

With a sigh, Cloud watched with lidded eyes as Aerith chattered happily with Tifa, the mayor's daughter the only other person that had managed to catch her attention. Tifa had taken to the older girl quickly and, despite the mental age gap, they had a lot in common. The most obvious being their interest in Cloud's state of dress. "Ah think she'll look _really_ good in the purple ones," Tifa giggled, pointing out fabrics to her new friend. "Her hair will make it look lovely!"

"Ooh, but the pink one is so cute too!" Aerith exclaimed, holding up the pink fabric with a critical eye. It had some sort of different colored lines on it, but Cloud wasn't paying it too much attention, even when Aerith held the different fabrics beneath her chin. "I don't know…what do you think, Miss Cloud?"

"I think you should just buy them both and quit wasting time," Cloud stated blandly, moving the fabric away from her. "I do have piano lessons soon."

"Oh, you're no fun!" Aerith sniffed, though she took up her half-serious offer and paid for both of the fabrics much to Cloud's dismay. "Besides, I thought you said you already knew how to play the piano?"

"She does know," Tifa nodded, considering she was in the lessons too. "But everyone still s'pects her to go 'cause she has nothing else ta do."

"Well, I don't like it," the Cetra mused petulantly. "I'm going to be bored while you two are away and there's no way I'm joining piano lessons." She scrunched up her nose as Tifa closed her mouth with a smile. "What's the point? It's not like the three of us will be doing shows in the future that need it! Besides, I'd rather play the violin."

"I'd rather be at home, studying," Cloud assured her. "By the way, Aerith, do you have any books on businesses?"

"Nope!" The bundle of energy exclaimed happily, before she abruptly stopped and looked at the Shinra Mansion. "But, I bet that place has something!" Tifa and Cloud both stopped as well, though both were looking at Aerith as though she'd lost her mind. "We should go check it out," the brunette continued obliviously. "I bet there are all manners of treasures down there!"

"But that's-"

"Fuckin stupid!" Cloud interrupted Tifa, smacking Aerith over the head lightly and receiving a pout in return. "There's no telling what's infesting that place right now and Tifa doesn't have any weapons to help us out, either!" Brown eyes widened as Tifa turned to look at her, stunned.

"What makes ya reckon-?"

"I'm sure I have something!" Aerith cut the young girl off, hands going to her hips as she stared the blonde down. "Besides, I highly doubt that she would want to miss an adventure like this!"

"But Ah don't-!"

"Oh fine!" Cloud threw her hands into the air in exasperation as the Cetra made a victory sign and grinned. "But nothing bad had better happen to her while we're there or I'll have your hide!"

"Of course," blue eyes rolled as Aerith skipped off to the inn, Cloud walking behind her with her face in a pout. She only stopped as she realized that Tifa was still standing in the same place, brown eyes wide and confused.

"You coming?" The blonde wondered, tilting her head at her. Tifa opened her mouth in protest, though Cloud ignored her as she turned back to the inn, shoulders shaking lightly as the confused girl finally caught up to her.

"This is fuckin stupid," Tifa stated dryly, though her voice was hushed so that any nosy listeners wouldn't be able to tell her father that she'd cursed. Cloud felt a smile blossom over her face at the words; it always amused her to no end that she'd gotten Tifa to have a dirty mouth.

"Hey, beats piano lessons." A half an hour later, Tifa had to admit that exploring really _did_ beat piano lessons. Though she could have done without the unnerving presence of the Turks watching as Cloud somehow managed to fight off the monsters inside unaided. "This is…amazing," the blonde exclaimed a short while later, barely puffing as she pulled back her arm full of materia. "When Gaia said that I was a WEAPON, I didn't know she meant-"

"Oh, Cloud," Aerith sighed, "don't call yourself that!" Tifa had no idea what the two were talking about, though Cloud shot her a look that said she would tell her everything. In spite of herself, the young girl felt pleased, even as she twisted the Wizard Bracelet that Aerith had given her for the trip. The eight slotted bracelet was full of Mastered Materia, something that made Tifa's and the Turks' eyes widen in surprise, though the older girl had only said that she'd gotten them from Cloud.

Then Cloud had showed them _her_ materia.

"Gaia gave them to me," she had told Tseng when the man had questioned her, jerking her hand free from his hold. "Mind your own business!"

The materia inside of Tifa's bracelet remained relatively untouched, though both of her friends had expressed confidence that she would eventually be able to use them, which let her be a bit confident in herself as well, even as she glanced over the materia she held. Added Affect-Contain, Command Counter-Steal, HP Absorb-Fire, and Exit-HP Plus; she hadn't even heard of the majority of them before, let alone understanding the importance of linking and their placements! Getting the bracelet and materia, however, wasn't even the strangest thing that had happened. That moment belonged to Cloud pulling her aside to tie a ribbon on her arm and telling her not to ever remove or tell a soul about it.

"I'm serious," Cloud's glowing eyes had pinned her in place. "And I'll beat the shit of you if I find out you took it off, especially in the mansion!"

Tifa had taken the words to heart as she followed the two crazy girls into the mansion, at first hoping that it would be a quick trip, but Nibelheim Mansion was _huge_! Monster infested and scary, creaky and dusty, but fun to explore and _huge_! It had a broken piano that Cloud had wondered if she could fix with rusty dripping pipes in the kitchen. Then there were the dusty sheets that hid beautiful furniture and the strange safe upstairs that gave them all a bad feeling. The Turks, for the most part, hung back and watched them from afar, though they finally protested vocally when Cloud had attempted to go into a room and lock them out, no doubt wanting to get Tifa into the loop.

"Please~?" The blonde whined, though electricity was sparkling around her as her materia flared. "I just want to talk to my friends without you all breathing down our necks like patented pedophiles!"

"Pedophiles?" The Turk known as Arachnid whispered rather horrified, making Tifa withhold a giggle as his partner, Numbers, sputtered indignantly at her friend.

"Now see here-!"

"Look," Cloud snapped, hands going to her hips. "If you want to, you can check the room before we go in, and we'll even leave the door unlocked for you! I just want to talk to them _alone_, okay?" After a moment of deliberation, the two Turks checked the room thoroughly, leaving the three young girls out in the hall by themselves. "Aren't they fuckin smart?" Cloud wondered, sitting on the floor as she impatiently waited for them to get through. "Leave us all out here where monsters are confirmed to be instead of taking us with them in the room to protect us like they're supposed to be." Aerith giggled even as Tifa shook her head.

"Ah wish Ah had as much conf'dence as ya, Cloud," she admitted. The blonde winked at her.

"I'm positive that you will someday, Ti, as soon as you leave Nibelheim, in fact." The young, black haired girl didn't bother to deny that she would be leaving Nibelheim someday. Ever since she had seen the books in Cloud's room and was read stories of successful women she had wanted to leave Nibelheim. Granted, she had also forced the blonde to teach her to read as well, though her father had not been amused to see her studying books so intently. After all, what use did a future house-wife and mother have for intense reading?

"Ya really reckon that?" She wondered instead, getting two nods from both girls. "Thanks, gals." Cloud made a face as Aerith sent her a smile, though the blonde stood as the Turks finally came from the room.

"All clear," Numbers said.

"No shit," Cloud mumbled, brushing past him with a roll of her eyes. Tifa put a hand over her mouth to hide her grin as the man shot her small friend a glare that was entirely ignored. Then, much to the men's and her shock, Cloud closed the door on their faces and locked it. "Idiots," she stated, even as Aerith began to push furniture against the door. "Help us out, Tifa." Blinking in surprise, the young girl began to help them, though she felt a bit guilty as Arachnid and Numbers yelled obscenities at the door.

"They'll probably run off to get Tseng soon," Aerith lamented, though she didn't look remotely guilty as she eyed the room with sharp eyes. After a moment, she shared a dark look with Cloud and nodded to a corner, making the young girl's lips scowl in annoyance as she nodded back to her. Tifa rose a brow in confusion.

"What's going-?"

"Shh!" Cloud put a finger to her lips for silence, making her click her mouth closed as Aerith began to glow. Brown eyes wide, Tifa watched her in disbelief, only turning her attention away when she heard sizzles and pops come from around the room. "They bugged us," Cloud stated in a low voice, answering her unasked question as she went to go close the blinds. "Aerith was just getting rid of the listening devices."

"Why would they do such a darn thing?!" Tifa wondered with alarm, rather glad that she'd grown up with a friend like Cloud teaching her about such strange things. The thought of being spied on made her shiver lightly. "Is this 'bout that Gaia woman givin ya so much materia?" Aerith and Cloud shared another look between them, even as they shot a look to the door, where the voices on the other end had gone quiet.

"Come here, Tifa," Cloud finally whispered to her, beckoning her to a dark corner of the room. "And keep your voice down; I want to tell you about what happened three days ago." As it was, Tifa wasn't sure she understood everything that her two friends were telling her, she was only four after all, and hardly as much of a genius as the two seemed to be. However, even she was smart enough to realize that it was strange to get a visit from Gaia, the planet herself, and that one shouldn't trust the Turks at all.

Most of what they said sounded like a bad fairytale, but Tifa had long ago learned that Cloud was the most honest person in Nibelheim; after all, only an honest person would ever wear those horrendous dresses without caring about what others thought. Not to mention she had never lied, at least to her, and thus it didn't even occur to Tifa to think that her friend could be playing a joke. Cloud didn't joke about things like this.

"They _experimented_ on ya?" She questioned in horror, getting a sad nod from Aerith. What Cloud was telling her... "Are scientist even allowed ta _do_ that?" …was truly sick.

"They are when they work for _Shinra_," Cloud stated darkly, her head bowed low. "And, in case you're wondering, I no longer want to be a scientist anymore." Tifa nodded whole-heartedly, having wanted to a scientist too because she always wanted to be near her Big Sister Cloud; not that she would ever admit it. "Now, I want to be better than Shinra, to expose that man as the fraud he is and prove that he's killing the planet!"

"But how?" Tifa wondered softly. "And what can Ah do ta help?"

"Most of it will probably go over your head right now," Cloud mused, patting her head in amusement as she pouted. "It's too bad that you can't get a boost of power like I did; I'm gonna hate leaving Nibelheim without you. I'll have to find a way to bring-"

"Wait, y'er leavin?!" Tifa felt her eyes widen in horror, even as the blonde pursed her lips as she silently berated herself.

"I can't stay here," she admitted after a moment. "There are things I have to do-" Any other words she was going to say was cut off as the door was violently rammed open, an irritated Tseng peering inside. Tifa felt like crying as they were taken from out of the mansion, though she pretended to be okay as she was ushered home even as she felt her throat clog with emotion. Cloud was leaving Nibelheim without her; and it was all because she wasn't a WEAPON! Tifa tossed herself onto her bed and curled up miserably as she tried to imagine a life in Nibelheim without her best friend and big sister.

She could already see herself wedded to Johnny; granted, he was a nice boy and all, but she harbored no feelings at all for the young boy that she'd heard her father trying to engage her to. Not to mention there weren't any other girls around that shared her love of books as the only future they thought of was of being fat and happy with kids and a husband. "There's no way I'm letting Cloud leave on her own!" Tifa yelled into her pillow, feeling her eyes sting. Surely, her mama would know what to do; but she was getting so sick lately, Tifa didn't want to burden her more.

"_It's too bad that you can't get a boost of power like I did; I'm gonna hate leaving Nibelheim without you."_

The four year old froze as she recalled the spoken words, her brown eyes going wide. Of course; if she could get stronger…if she studied a little more then…then Cloud would…! Brown eyes peered at her Wizard Bracelet, still full of the materia that Aerith and Cloud had entrusted to her, before Tifa stood and got herself ready for a trip into the mountains.

* * *

Cloud rolled her eyes as she listened to her mom exclaim happily over her new wardrobe with Elmyra, wishing that the woman had the decency to be a little lower with her words. She had no doubt that the next door neighbors didn't have their windows cracked open because it was too hot inside. Sitting at the desk in her room, the blonde was drawing blueprints for a company that would be long in coming, even as there was a list sitting on her other side of all the parts that she would need to construct Gaia's new energy source.

As a past, or was it future?, delivery boy, Cloud had been witness to how quite a few things had been built and what had been needed to build those things. There had even been a multitude of times where customers had requested that _he_ picked up the items for them as the place inside was crawling with monsters. As such, Cloud knew practically all of the best places to mine for the things she would need for her future business, even if doing such a thing would be suicidal with as young as she was, especially since she'd given Tifa her Ribbon.

Then there was Mining Town, the place that had been ruined by Shinra and blamed on Barret, but had become a virtual goldmine in the future when said man had struck oil and simply never seemed to stop. Even long after he died, Mining Town was still the primary source for oil; Cloud had the feeling it was the planet's way of taking attention off of her bountiful mako. Now, how was she supposed to take over a place of sweaty, bitter men that didn't take kindly to outsiders peeking their noses into their business?

She sighed as she realized that Aerith was right.

If Cloud had tried this same idea as a man, she had no doubt in her mind that the people of Mining Town would have given him a lot of shit and tested him time after time. As a woman, however, men tended to underestimate and give a little too much leeway. She could use that to her advantage and have a group of eager and horny men doing her bidding for dirt cheap pay. As she wrote the idea down, Cloud didn't even bother to feel guilty for thinking it. After all, if they really fell for such an act then they deserved everything they got.

The most important thing that Cloud had come to realize she would need was land. Granted, Gaia had quite a spacious bit of land to work with, but many people had been leery the first time Neo-Shinra had come up with the design for energy and no one had really wanted to try it. Thus, she knew the first places that would need convincing to try the new energy source was going to have to be small towns, probably ones with Mako Reactors as they were the ones who would grow bitter of Shinra the quickest. Thus, Nibelheim, Gongaga, Rocket Town, Wutai, Banora; and she still had to make sure she could help out her friends.

Vincent was, perhaps, the most hardest to think of how to help; in fact, she and Aerith had come to the mutual agreement to let the man rest for now, as he wouldn't really be much of a help to them yet and vice versa, though he would be able to help Deepground when they gathered up enough evidence to tell him about it. That she left to Aerith, as Cloud really didn't know much about the experiments there to be of much help. Barret and Marlene were the easiest to help, as Cloud was going to give him the top job of the Mining Company and improve their lives verily.

Cid she would help finance another trip into space and Yuffie, well, a few speciously dropped balls of mastered materia around her would probably be enough. She was even planning on hiring Reeve to help redesign Edge, though the new city would be far more superior to its past/future counterpart and rival Midgar any day. She was hoping that the many changes would help Denzel, though she resolved to keep an eye out for the boy that had once been her son. The only person she didn't really know how to help was Tifa.

Cloud had already started truthfully, by giving the girl courage and knowledge that she would otherwise receive many years down the line. She was breaking the girl of her insecurities of the future, of her need to want to be saved by a hero that the villagers of Nibelheim had seemed to beat into all of the young girls' heads. And she had even proven to Tifa that women didn't need a man to be strong by showing her countless success stories of women that had helped the world out in their own way; and, even if Tifa was a little more favorable to the seemingly fairytale like stories about the kunoichi of Wutai, she was still only four and could easily be forgiven for her enamor.

However, Cloud really knew that the only way to _really_ help Tifa was to get her out of the backwater town of Nibelheim. She had no idea how she was going to get that one to work, especially as she knew that Tifa's mother was growing sicker by the day, and she knew that Mr. Lockhart would grow rather possessive, strict and uptight about his only daughter after she died. With a sigh, Cloud leaned back in her chair and eyed the ceiling, hoping that Aerith would overhear anything about Shinra soon.

All they needed to hear was a simple phone call from Shinra saying that he was sending someone over and they knew they had a trip to Bone Village in the bag.

As though hearing her inner plea for news, Aerith's voice suddenly rang through her head, though her anxiousness was easily felt down the line. _Cloud, it's Tifa!_ The Cetra exclaimed, voice panicked. _She's walking up the mountains!_

_What?!_ Eyes wide in horror, the blonde quickly shoved her papers away as she began to look for her boots, tripping a few times over items she had failed to pick up before. _Where is she going? How far is she?_

_She's halfway to the mako pool!_ The brunette admitted after a moment, strong feelings of guilt coming from her. _Oh, Cloud, we should have never told her about what happened!_

"Cloud, honey, what's wrong?" Cloud paid no attention to her mother's words as she grabbed her jacket and dashed from the house, seeing Aerith standing below the mountain path with Tseng tightly gripping her shoulder.

"…why first," he was saying as Aerith shook her head in dismay. "If you don't tell me, I won't take you up." Cloud quickly ran past him, sending the man a dark glare as he turned his surprised attention her way.

"If Tifa dies because you're making Aerith late," she warned darkly, "I'll murder you viciously." The Wutainian man blinked in bemusement before releasing a hiss as Aerith kicked his shin, the Ancient giving him a dirty look as she took off after Cloud, who slowed down a bit when she heard her footsteps. "She's okay, isn't she?"

"For now," Aerith stated shortly, tears in her eyes as she forced her body to run for longer than it was comfortable with. Cloud felt herself hiss in dilemma nearly ten minutes later as Aerith collapsed, not wanting to leave her alone in such a dangerous place, yet knowing that she had to get to Tifa quick. "Go Cloud," the brunette gasped, flashing her materia. "I'll catch up! Besides, someone has to play the Gaia role and help Tifa!" Confused, though happy to see that Aerith had brought her supplies, she took off running for the small country girl that had once again wormed her way into her heart.

"Tifa? Tifa?!" Cloud felt herself panicking as she finally made it to the cave, getting no answer from the young girl. "Come on, Ti, this isn't funny! Your mom's gonna be worried sick!" Still no response. Dread filling her, Cloud entered the cave and stared around, hoping to see anything that led her to the little four year old that had no business on the mountain, though it was for naught. Tifa wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Where _are_ you?" The blonde wondered, a sickening feeling in her gut as she heard the distant howl of a wolf. It couldn't be…could it? But what else could have possibly happened? As though in parody of answer, the pool of mako bubbled lightly, parting to reveal a rather familiar Ribbon that should have been tightly on Tifa's skin. Face going pale, the blonde took a staggering step forward, before she quickly found her momentum to run as Aerith's words rang through her mind again.

"_Besides, someone has to play the Gaia role and help Tifa!"_

"Oh god, oh god…!" _Don't panic, Cloud!_ Aerith's voice rang sharply through her mind, even as she dove into the mako pool, wide eyes searching for the sinking and badly burned body that was sure to be inside. Tifa's face was slack jawed in horror as her hand reached out to grab for someone that wasn't there; Cloud took it and pulled. _Cloud, listen to me, okay? This is really important and will let us save Tifa!_

_We can't possibly save Tifa,_ Cloud lamented, feeling her eyes welling up with tears. _She's dead, Aerith. Dead!_

_You were dead too, Cloud!_ Aerith screamed, trying to cut through the blonde's rising hysteria. _I brought you back, now you have to do the same for her!_

_How?!_

_Use Holy, Cloud. Use Holy and pull her back from the Lifestream; I'll guide you along the way._ Cloud tensed as she felt a pair of hands grab her own, before she forced herself to relax as the room around her exploded into a bright green river of mako, many ghostly shapes walking beside the kneeled blonde without seeing her. There were so many whispers; Cloud placed a hand over her ears as they rung with pain. _You have to find Tifa,_ Aerith's voice ghosted through the back of her mind.

_How do I do that?_ She wondered, peering up with a wince as she noticed that the place was full of the dead. An attempt to move was hindered by her foot sloshing in mako, making Cloud growl in annoyance.

_Concentrate!_ The Cetra demanded. _Concentrate and think abo-oh! Oh no, Cloud, wolves!_

_Aerith? Aerith, are you all right?!_

_I can take them; just-_ Whatever she said was lost as a wail rendered the air silent. Cloud felt herself freeze in sadness and hastily brought a hand to her eyes, surprised to find tears inside. Looking up, she was greeted to the sight of the spirits in the Lifestream, who were staring ahead with expressions of sorrow.

"It's so sad, isn't it?" The voice made her turn around, giving her a glimpse of young boy with brown hair and sharp eyes.

"What was it?" She wondered, though she had a feeling…

"That was the planet crying," the boy admitted softly, turning to look ahead as the planet wailed again. "What are they doing to her down there?" Cloud clenched her hands together, knowing the answer right away; Mako Reactors. Shinra was having more built to _help_ provide energy for the Midgar residence. Pretty soon, the slums would be full of people that grew sicker by the day, even as the newer generation would be born with a higher tolerance for the poisonous substance.

"Tell me," Cloud began, withholding a wince as Gaia screamed once again. "Where are all of the spirits going? Why is it so full here?"

"We aren't going anywhere," the boy stated, eyes still in the distance. "She's in too much pain to take us now." In spite of herself, Cloud was immensely relieved, even as she wished there was more she could do to help the planet. But there was enough time to worry about that later; for now, she had to find Tifa. _It's gonna be hard walking through this mako,_ the blonde mused, taking a few determined steps forward, _but I'll manage._ Would have been nice to have a boat, though.

And then a canoe appeared beside her.

Cloud stared at the paddle boat with lidded eyes as she forced her heart to calm down, though she hardly stood there and looked a gift horse in the mouth. In mere moments she was in the boat, paddling into the River of Souls as she made her way towards the bright light at the end; she had a feeling that Tifa had gone that way. "Tifa?! Tifa, if you can hear me, please come!" Standing up and paddling along, Cloud's glowing blue eyes searched around desperately for any speck of her. "Cloud's looking for you, Tifa!"

"Cloud?" The voice was small and muffled, though Cloud heard it at once as she quickly hopped out of the canoe, it vanishing the moment she touched the mako again. Tifa was curled up in a group of other young kids, all who shot Cloud a dark look as she barreled through them and grabbed the younger girl in a tight hug. "You came for me," Tifa whispered in awe. "You kept your promise Cloud…I always knew you would." She sniffled, hands clutching her friend tightly.

"You scared me half to death!" Cloud snapped, not even hearing the words as she pulled back from her. "Tifa, what the hell were you thinking, doing something so fuckin foolish?! You could have-well…" The blonde trailed off and ran a hand through her hair as she noticed that Tifa was crying. But how was she supposed to react; she _had_ died, and it was all because of her.

"Ah jes wan'ned-" Tifa hiccupped, her accent getting thicker as it proved it was the girl from Nibelheim; to Cloud, it was merely proof of her distress. After all, Tifa had been trying her hardest to learn and mimic the blonde's own accent after she had told her stories about successful women around the world. "Ah jes-Ah wan'ned ta go wif ya n' Aerith! Ah din'it wanna be lef-"

"Tifa," Cloud interrupted gently, making the girl look up at her cautiously. Cloud felt her heart clench as she realized that Tifa's brown eyes were glowing hazel. Mako Poisoning; hopefully she wouldn't wake up sick. "I would have never left you behind," she admitted, rubbing the girl's head. "Nibelheim doesn't deserve you."

"B-bu' ya said _sis-!"_

"No buts," Cloud murmured, feeling her heart swell at the word. Sis; In the past life, he had grown to love his Tifa as a younger sister, though she often acted older than he. That this part of her, even if it wasn't _that_ her, would think of him, of _her_ as… "Come on, sis, let's go." Tifa's head snapped up and she looked at Cloud with wide eyes, though the blonde merely smiled down at her, hand extended. "Ya din'it dink Ah'd jes leave ya here, did ya, babe?" She winked as Tifa gave a watery giggle. "Besides, this place is boring; don't you want to finish exploring the world with me?"

"B-beats piano lessons," the younger girl whispered, though thankfully she took Cloud's hand; she wasn't sure how long Tifa's body would last.

"This is…astonishing…" Cloud's eyes snapped open at the words and she found herself looking down on her own body, which was covering Tifa's prone form, both bodies covered in mako. Aerith was kneeling beside them, her body glowing as she healed Tifa's wounds, even as a very familiar scientist, president, two Shinra army men and Turks watched with wide, greedy eyes from afar. A hand clenched in hers and she looked down, noticing that Tifa was clutching her hand and staring up at her with wide eyes.

"_Cloud," _she whispered in awe. _"Y'er-"_

"Gaia," Aerith stated, interrupting the young girl and gathering everyone's attention with the single word. Cloud and Tifa stared at her, the younger verily confused, though none more so than the blonde that the Cetra was looking _up_ at. "Please," the Ancient continued, her voice a bit desperate. "Please return Tifa back to her body; she has many years left to go." _Good job on bringing her back, Cloud; sorry I couldn't help. Just being around Hojo cuts my connection to the Lifestream drastically. Not to mention the monsters!_

"_It's okay,"_ Cloud responded aloud, giving Tifa's hand a loving squeeze. _"I was never going to leave her behind."_ Gently, she pulled the young girl to her body and stepped back, giving Tifa a nod when she stared at her in confusion. _"Go on; you shouldn't be here."_

"_But what about ya?"_

_"I'll be fine, Tifa."_ _At least, I think so._

_No worries,_ Aerith whispered to her. _Your body is strong enough to be separated from soul without dying, thanks to the mako. You just have to play the role of Gaia for a little bit longer. By the way, I have the perfect way for this to turn out, especially since you look so ethereal._

_Ethereal?_ The blonde questioned in disbelief, before she looked down at her reflection in the mako. Long blonde hair flowing to her feet, a blue robe that encased her sensually; Cloud felt herself shudder with disgust. _Aerith...what the hell?_

_I think Gaia wants to have a little fun in this timeline too._ The two stopped their mental conversation as Tifa drew in a deep gasp of breath, her now hazel eyes glowing bright as she snapped into a seated position and looked around. The greedy men of Shinra had a camcorder going, not even bothering to hide it as they caught such amazing evidence and hints about the Promised Land. But Tifa paid them no attention, her young and confused eyes going back and forth between the comatose young girl and the beautiful young woman standing above the pool of mako.

"C-Cloud?" She questioned hesitantly, even as Aerith wrapped her hands around her shoulders happily.

"Not Cloud," she whispered just loud enough for the camcorders to pick up on. "Gaia; she's using Cloud to talk to you."

"'Cause she's a WEAPON?" Tifa wondered harshly, biting her lower lip as she began to glare at the beautiful woman that apparently wasn't her big sister.

_"No, silly,"_ Cloud stated with amusement, chuckling as Aerith whispered what to say in her mind. _"Cloud is my conduit; how else did she manage to find you in the Lifestream?"_

"Cloud is yer…conduit?" Tifa repeated slowly. "What's a conduit? And what's a Lifestream?" But the blonde merely stared at her with a gentle smile on her face.

_"The Lifestream is where you were, the River of Souls; you weren't supposed to be there, but Cloud saved you. She didn't want you to die."_

"Ah…was dead?" Tifa's eyes widened in shock and horror. "Then-then that place was where-?"

"Don't!" Aerith tightened her hold on the girl, shooting a fearful look back at the Shinra members behind them as she continued in an urgent whisper. "Tifa, you were in the Lifestream; you were supposed to die, but Cloud jumped in and saved you. Please, never speak of what you saw there to anyone other than Cloud and I, or you just might lead them to the Promised Land!"

"The Promised Land?"

_"That's right, the Promised Land," _Cloud stated, turning her attention back her way. _"Aerith and Cloud are on their way to the Promised Land, Tifa, though it will take them many years to reach there. That is why Cloud must leave Nibelheim."_

"But Ah don't wan'her ta go wit'out meh!" The young girl screamed, putting her hands over her ears. "Please Gaia, please, turn meh into a WEAPON too! Turn meh into a WEAPON so Ah can go too!"

_"Why?" _Cloud wondered, honestly curious as she tilted her head. _"Such a pretty young girl shouldn't get involved in the things my WEAPONS will do."_

"Ah dun care!" She snapped, face turning red as frustration went through her. "Cloud is _mah_ big sis and she said she wouln't go ta the-"

"La la la la laa~!" Aerith sang.

"-wit'out me!" She continued, sending an apologetic and slightly scared look to the Ancient and men behind them. "Please, dun make her leave meh behind! Ah promise that Ah'll get smarter an' stronger an' Ah'll stop reading all those kid stories an'-"

_"There's no need,"_ Cloud interrupted, a small and rather sad smile on her face. _"You don't need those sort of things to be by her side; all she needs is your love and care, Tifa. Can you promise me that you'll give her that?"_

"Ah promise!" She agreed instantly, bobbing her head for emphasis. "Aw'ways!" Cloud chuckled lightly.

_"Then hold out your hand."_ Cloud wasn't sure how she had managed to get the mako to form into another white ball of Holy Materia, but she was banking on it being because of Aerith's intervention. However, with Shinra catching sight of the ball being in such prominent places each time, Cloud knew that they would begin to try to take a closer look on the White Materia the first chance they got and made a mental note to make sure Tifa could keep hers well protected.

As it was, taking in her first breath of air after being dead for so long was rather painful; no wonder Tifa and Aerith came back with such deep gasps. Wincing, the blonde sat up slowly and eyed the cave around her, before her fingers clenched on the Ribbon that had once been tightly concealed on Tifa's skin. "Oh, Cloud!" The younger girl exclaimed as she caught sight of her, tears of happiness pooling in her eyes. "Ah-"

"Am fuckin stupid!" The blonde snapped, face turning red as she lunged at the startled girl and shook her roughly. "Tifa, ya fuckin idiot! Ya should of known dat Ah would of never, ever, _ever_ lef ya in _Nibelheim_ alone! And more, ya should have _asked _meh wha happened when Ah was turned into a WEAPON; How the hell ya think it made meh feel ta see ya _dead?_" The tears in her hazel eyes were quickly turning into real ones as Cloud drew back, feeling her anger draining away.

"But Ah-"

"And wha's worse?" She continued darkly, though a teasing glint was in her eyes that the four year old couldn't see. "Ah gave ya my Ribbon and told ya ta _never_ take it off yer skin or Ah would beat da _shit_ outta ya, only ta come in here and find it floating in mako; ya dumb son of a bitch!" Tifa flinched as the blonde menacingly raised her hand, ducking her head to protect herself from the beating that was sure to come, only to peek her eyes open as she felt the Ribbon being tied against her arm again by a now grumbling Cloud.

There were gasps of surprise by the adults in the room at the sight of the Ribbon that Tifa paid no attention to, considering she was now staring at Cloud in stunned surprise, even as Aerith was whispering in bemusement to her mind. _You gave her your Ribbon? …Cloud, what the hell? _"Now," said blonde began darkly, ignoring the attention focused on her with ease. "Ah dun wanna have ta tell ya again, Tifa; _Never_ take off yer Ribbon, 'kay?"

"Cloud…" She whispered, her eyes sparkling in a strange way, though the blonde merely raised her hand threateningly and gave her a furious glare, making her flinch again as the mood broke. "Ah-Ah promise!"

"Good." Tilting her head, Cloud allowed her glare to drop as she held open her arms, lips melting into a beautiful smile. "Now come here, ya lil fuckin twerp." Aerith sighed in exasperation as Tifa burst into relieved giggles and jumped into her arms, embracing her older sister with tears finally coming from her eyes.

Of course, the three had actually managed to forget that Shinra and his dirty workers were with them, but Cloud could feel the horror, amusement, exasperation and a million other things coursing through her when it was shoved quite blatantly in her face. "You're my daughter," Shinra was saying, crouched slightly on the floor so that he could look at Cloud eye to eye. "And I'm going to take you with me."

"Like hell!" She snapped, ignoring the Turks that were forcefully withholding their shock. "Mom, ya better tell dis bozo ta get lost befo'e Ah stick my foot up his ass!"

"Cloud, accent!" Rayne scolded, even as she looked at Shinra with an expression of loathing on her face. "And mind your manners, young lady."

"Yes ma'am," she muttered sourly, clanging the teapot painfully against Shinra's leg with disgust as she began to clear the table. "Don't see why I should though," she continued beneath her breath. "Fat man didn't want nothin ta do wit' me befo'e, so why now?"

"You're not taking her," Rayne stated, eyes narrowed into slits as she ignored her daughter's grumbling and bad grammar. "You said yourself that you wanted nothing to do with her. Hell, I even recall you saying that she wasn't yours." Cloud's face darkened as the Turks shifted uncomfortably. Honestly, Shinra would have been better off leaving the stunned men outside, but he most certainly couldn't trust his life to remain if he had entered the building alone. It wasn't even Cloud he had to worry about, it was Rayne Strife, who was absently cutting potatoes with a very large and sharp Meat Cleaver instead of her perfectly able to work Potato-Slicer.

Cloud definitely liked where this was going.

_I can't believe that Shinra is claiming you as his heiress, _Aerith was whispering to her, very carefully keeping Tifa out of the loop as the girl would be able to hear them now. _Do you know how much easier it will be to get the funds we need after this?_

_Do you realize how many problems this is going to cause me?_ Cloud snapped back, _accidentally_ spilling a bit of leftover tea on Shinra's pristine suit. _Rufus is going to be on my back, thinking that I want to have the spot that's supposed to be his; and, as the oldest claimed child, that right will automatically go to me. Then, there's Tifa, who he's also trying to adopt as he knows that I refuse to leave without her, and then there's Hojo, Hollander, the Generals and Zack we'll be around by default!_

_When you put it that way, this could be a very bad thing. And to think, we were only trying to get to Bone Village,_ Aerith sighed. _Do you see what I meant now about how some changes just bring about absolutely unheard of results?_ Cloud felt her eye tic in agreement; neither of them would have ever saw this coming. Cloud was going to be in a position to gain control of Shinra and destroy it in one fell swoop, even as she would be putting all of her effort, time and money into making a company to rival it! _Well, at least this way you can find out and rise above all of their company secrets. Not to mention, this is the perfect way to get in contact with Reeve and all of the pieces we'll need to start building up our empire._

"…you would just think that I'd hand over _my_ baby girl to you," Rayne hissed, narrowing her eyes at Shinra in disgust as he dabbed at his leg to stifle the stain that was growing. "Cloud's not some pet that you can just decide to come back and get after abandoning; besides, I thought you were happy with that _trollop_ of yours."

"No right ta toss stones when sleeping wit' a married man," Cloud muttered, getting a withering look that, for once, she didn't back down from. Granted, she loved her mother with all her heart, but she couldn't help but think that she'd gotten exactly what she had deserved. After all, Rufus's mother could have been the one shunned and pushed off instead, pregnant with nothing to her name and in a backwater village with people that hated her on sight, just because she didn't have a husband.

_You reap what you sow, mom._

"I think you should leave, Conrad," Rayne continued, a bit of shame in her eyes as she, for the first time in both of Cloud's timelines, backed down from her child's furious stare. "You're not welcome here."

"I'm not leaving here without my daughter," Conrad Shinra stated forcefully.

"And _I'm_ not leaving here without my mom and Tifa," Cloud huffed, offended to be treated as though she wasn't in the room. "And if you think I'm not serious, then I dare you to force me out of here; I'll bite my tongue off and bleed to death!"

"Cloud!" But the blonde wasn't listening to her mother, attention instead on a frowning Shinra, who had not expected such opposition, surely. "Young lady, you stay out of this!"

"The hell I will!" Cloud snapped, shooting the woman a nasty glare. "This is about _me_, not you and whatever _fling_ you had with a _married man, mother!_" Rayne looked stunned as the Turks shifted again. "And I'm sick and tired of you trying to make me live the proper life that _you_ should have lived in this stupid, backwater village! I hate Nibelheim! I hate it!" She stomped her feet for emphasis as she made her way to the window, tossing it open with a glare for their neighbors who's windows were cracked open again. "Here, let's let them all get their gossip for today, _mother!_

"I _hate_ Nibelheim! I don't _want_ to be a house-wife or a mother! I _love_ to read! I'm going to be a successful woman _without _having to rely on a husband! And_ I don't care that I'm the village disgrace!"_ Cloud tossed her hands in the air and slammed the window shut, furious glowing eyes turning to her startled mom again as she hastily brushed a hand over her wet eyes. "Please mom," the blonde continued tightly. "Please, just listen to me, just this once? _Please_..." Rayne said nothing, though she bowed her head in shame as she realized what type of woman she had become. Even though she was from the city of Midgar, many people would have assumed that she was a native of Nibelheim with the way she treated her daughter.

And it wasn't even because she cared about her daughter's future.

All the time she'd been teaching Cloud to cook, teaching her how to wear makeup and how to dress _properly_ was because she knew that the other villagers were talking about _her_ behind her back, not because they were blaming Cloud. After all, they expected the worst of the young blonde, what with her mother being an unwedded skank and all. Cloud had only gone along to make her happy, though she had to constantly put her foot down when Rayne got too out of hand. Hell, she'd gotten so use to the backwater life that she had been stunned to hear little Aerith talking about books!

What did girls need books for?!

"Oh god," Rayne whispered, staring at her hands in shame. Had she really let Conrad defeat-let _herself_ get defeated so much? When the hell had she given up? "Oh, Cloud-"

"Save it for the day you really mean it, mother!" The blonde snapped, arms crossed across her chest. Rayne didn't even bother to muster up anger at the young girl's words; she felt that she deserved it.

"What do you want to do, sweetheart?" She wondered instead, swallowing down the apology on her lips. Conrad had no right to hear the private words that would be shared between them anyway. Cloud stared at her suspiciously, before slowly relaxing her stance.

"I want to leave Nibelheim," she admitted, "but not with him." She gave a jerky nod to a silently smug Shinra, who's smug face collapsed in indignation. "I want to leave with Aerith and Tifa or we'll just run off ourselves."

"Honey, we don't have the funds," Rayne explained bitterly, getting interrupted by a cough from the man on the couch that shouldn't have been there. Conrad Shinra puffed himself up self-importantly, the chunk in his cheeks revealing that he had slowly been letting himself go over the years; she wondered what she had ever saw in him before.

"Rayne, you do still have an account full of money-"

"Frozen and mostly liquidated by yourself, if I recall correctly." And she did recall correctly. Cloud's eyes narrowed on her father with hatred as he gave a twitch.

"Yes, well; money can be replaced and the account reopened, provided that _our_ daughter takes on my family name and comes to study with my young boy Rufus every week."

"Cloud Shinra sounds stupid," Cloud pointed out with disgust. "And I ain't goin to no school without Aerith and Tifa." Rayne winced at the slang, knowing that it only appeared when Cloud was rather angry; she was normally such a well-spoken child. Of which…she taught herself… "And why would I need to take your name if you have a son-"

"Your little brother," Shinra corrected.

"-who no doubt has your name already?" The blonde finished with a glare. Shinra chuckled at his precocious child who would lead him to the Promised Land someday. Who would have ever thought, his own seed, the conduit and weapon of Gaia? Perhaps he had been too hasty in tossing Rayne aside; if he had been thinking clearly, he really would have left his wife, especially since she was constantly dipping into his funds and hadn't laid with him since giving him a son. Granted, she was a beautiful woman, but he would definitely have to find a way to be rid of her soon, maybe even spark up life with an old flame after…

"It is only appropriate for the oldest child to be the one to inherit," Shinra explained aloud. Yes, he would spoil his little girl until she positively popped with love for him, then she would gladly take him to the Promised Land as repayment. He could see it now, all the mako in the world, money in high stacks at his untouchable feet, the public gazing at him in envy, with his beautiful daughter and new wife by his side. Now, he just needed a way to turn the surely bad press favorable to him; he really needed to buy them out soon.

However, he let the thoughts fade away as his daughter finally gave a grudging nod, then went off to pack up her room. The house was so small that he could see her as she packed, placing book after book into handcrafted bags; she definitely had her mother's brains, though thankfully she had her father's spirit. There was no way in hell he would have lived such a life; just the thought of it was disgusting. "Boys, help my little girl along and call a copter. I want to be out of this backwater town before sundown."


	4. Chapter 4

**Apologies for the long delays! Every time I thought I was feeling good enough to go over my stories, I suddenly felt exhausted and sick; the cold season has never been my strong point.  
**

**Important! Feb. 2, 2013: **What I thought was sudden exhaustion was the oncoming result of a horrible flu, am trying to get some updates back up. Sorry for the long delay! :3

Chapter has been polished! ...Somewhat! If you find any mistakes, feel free to post them in the comments section or send a PM, I am very, very sick of this chapter atm. xD

**Warnings:** This is more of a filler than anything, and I'll be going over it to change a few parts to make the story make a bit more sense. I was planning on putting it off, but an update is better than nothing right? Unless I get a lot of complaints, this confusing filler will stay up with no changes for a day or two.

**Anyway, just a few things before you read: First, thank you for your reviews. I don't respond to reviews individually because I'm a busy and often sick person, but I do cherish each and every one of them. That being said, allow me to address a few questions here. This is mostly for Terra, but others can find wisdom here too:  
**

Yes, there is romance, but the story isn't focused on it. In fact, there will be some time before people become adults and there are **no definite pairings,** if any. You'll find out about Avalanche and their forms as the story continues on. You're about to find out about Rufus and his mom, and Lazard will be mentioned far off, along with Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth. Even Zack. People may not like Tifa's father's response to Shinra's suggestion, but oh well, and any other things that come, will come.**  
**

**When I write this story, the ideas completely spawn on their own and I try to write them all down instead of just taking it from the story because it seems unbelievable. However, I will tell you all this: As Aerith once said in the story, "_Do you see what I meant now about how some changes just bring about absolutely unheard of results?_" That was foreshadowing for the future, so if you're thinking something should go a certain way, it probably won't.  
**

* * *

Cloud kept her eyes tightly shut as the helicopter whirled loudly.

To her left, Tifa was peering out the window with wide eyes, taking in the aerial view of Midgar with awe. To her right, Aerith was looking out the other window, her face in a grim frown as she eyed the city that was killing the planet the most. All around it, the green grass was turning brown, though it would be another few years before people saw the desolation that the reactors would bring. Cloud didn't really care right then to be honest, considering she had a rather bad case of Motion Sickness and just wanted to land.

Tseng was flying them to the tall building of Shinra Inc., barely sparing them glances as he occasionally talked into the radio to other Turks. On the copter slightly behind them was Conrad Shinra, along with Elmyra Gainsborough, Rayne Strife, and the sickly Jeddah Lockhart. Cloud felt both bitter and amused at the woman being there, though she kept her feelings hidden from the oblivious Tifa. Tifa's father had, true to prediction, thrown a verbal fit when Shinra proposed to take her along with them, and Cloud had almost thought the man cared about his daughter.

Then Shinra had caught sight of his ill wife and had promised to look after her with the best doctors money could buy, provided he exchange Tifa for it. The man had hesitated and seemed ready to deny it, though Shinra's offer to pay the man more than enough money to fix the town and then some, and the thought of having the Shinra name to back his own, had finally made him sign the paper. When Jeddah had been told of it, the sickly woman had raged and screamed and cried to no avail, finally succumbing to her illness and going mute in anguish, the sight of which made her husband look repentant and guilty, but by then it had been too late to take back his damning signature.

As it was, Tifa didn't know that her father had given up all parental rights to her in exchange for money and her mother's well being, nor did she realize that there was a high possible chance that her parents weren't staying together once Jeddah was finally healed. Thankfully, Cloud had insisted in coming along to witness the scene and had been able to ensure Tifa's future was a stress free one. In fact, she had glared at Shinra the entire time Mr. Lockhart was signing the papers, until the man had finally seemed to get the hint and changed the name on the filled out form to Strife without the man's knowledge.

Tifa belonged to her family now, officially a Strife, though Cloud didn't have the heart to tell her the truth or change her last name. Besides, even she was able to keep her own last name despite Shinra insisting that she would be the one taking over his family business. It would certainly make for a small and interesting class they would have in the future; Rufus Shinra, Cloud Shinra-Strife, Tifa Lockhart and Aerith Gainsborough.

"We're landing in approximately one minute," Tseng spoke, his voice going through their headsets. "Everyone put on your seatbelts." Tifa and Aerith did as told, though Cloud simply remained curled up. She hadn't removed herself from that spot since the helicopter had taken off hours ago. Aerith pat her hand sympathetically as the helicopter lurched and she groaned. Sheesh, all that trash talk and she'd been silenced by the damn copter; how un-cool was that?!

"Reporters, already?" Shinra's grouchy voice exclaimed, before he growled in exasperation. "Of course, _Leanne_." With a quick peek up, Cloud could tell right away who Leanne was, as the woman was drop dead gorgeous; there was no other way to describe her. Flowing blonde hair, a high end, form fitting dress, and jewels glittering so brightly that she was amazed Tseng had been able to land from the glare of them. And, as Cloud caught sight of a spoiled looking little boy with slicked blonde hair and a little suit on to match, the blonde resisted the urge to groan again and buried her face in her lap.

_:It's Rufus and his mother.:_ Tifa jumped, turning to look at her with wide eyes. Cloud almost cursed, having forgotten about her piece of White Materia as she hadn't been able to think on the damn death trap. _:__Don't panic, Ti,:_ she hastily reassured the younger girl. _:I__t's just me; Cloud, see?: _Cloud gave her a small wave, making her giggle softly as her panic calmed, though her eyes were burning with curiosity._ :I'm speaking to you through your materia. If you want to try it too, just think about talking to me or Aerith without speaking.:_

_:L-like this?:_ She ventured hesitantly, no doubt thinking herself a fool for speaking to someone else in her own mind. Cloud smiled into her knees as Aerith reached over and placed a hand on Tifa's knee_. _

_:Exactly like that,:_ the Ancient congratulated her proudly as the helicopter finally touched down. _:Don't be alarmed when you hear us talking like this; we'll be using this sort of talking when there are too many people around to overhear us, and you can still keep your thoughts to yourself so long as you're not trying to talk to us. Try to get use to it, okay?:_

_:Okay...:  
_

"Stay in your seats," Tseng instructed as he unbuckled himself. "I will be back to get you out shortly; I'm just going to get these people out of the way." :_Like we care,:_ Cloud mind whispered, making Aerith smile and Tifa giggle softly. She allowed the mood to continue for a moment, before morosely looking at the young Lockhart. Innocence shined out of the young face, making Cloud frown in regret. She sometimes wondered if it was right to drag the young girl into their mess, but the woman that she would grow into always put the doubts to rest. _:Tifa,: _Cloud called, making hazel eyes look up to her in question. Smiling sadly, the blonde dragged a finger down a pudgy cheek._ :There is a lot about the future that you don't know yet.:_ Tifa frowned in confusion. _:I'll tell you a lot of things that probably won't make sense now, but I want you to trust me; don't ever doubt what I say to you. Aerith and I have big plans for the future that I want you to be a part of.:_

_:Sis,: _Tifa responded with a small smile. _:Ah will nevah doubt ya.:_ Cloud bit back a choke at the words, feeling her throat clog with happiness at the look of absolute trust and devotion on the younger girl's face, and even Aerith looked uncomfortably gooey as she turned to look away from the scene. Eeeww~.

It didn't take long for the press to be ushered off the premises, though as they exited the helicopter Cloud noticed at once that Leanne didn't look happy, especially when three women stepped off the plane that Shinra himself did. However, though she looked down particularly on Elmyra and the sick Jeddah, her face turned absolutely _livid_ at the sight of her own mother, Rayne. "What is _she_ doing here?" Leanne questioned hostilely, eyes promising pain for the blonde woman who paused guiltily at the sight of her. _:This doesn't look good,:_ Cloud mused warily. _:Kind of feel bad for mommy. Heh-heh, kinda…:_

_:Oh, Cloud, you're horrible!:_ Aerith exclaimed, even as Shinra went over to his wife with a frown on his face. "Leanne, let's take this inside; and how many times must I tell you to keep the press _off_ of _my_ property?"

"We were just welcoming you home, dearest," she simpered, though her eyes were still on Rayne. Cloud resisted the urge to whistle at the heat in the air. _:Y'know, I don't think Leanne's gonna like me, especially when she finds out I'm Shinra's child.:_

Understatement of the century.

Cloud, Tifa and Aerith sat down with cups of tea in front of them, each pretending not to hear the argument that boomed from down the hall as they took their small bags from Tseng. It was Aerith's idea for them all to pack a small bag to take with them, though it was mainly because she didn't trust the scientist and grunts left with their large luggage to not dig through and "see if they could find any clues about the Promised Land inside." Virtually, she'd given Cloud a chance to hide all of the notes that she had made for the future, much to her relief as she hadn't thought of it herself.

"When can we come live with you?" Cloud bluntly wondered aloud, staring at Elmyra with a questioning look. The brunette blinked at her, before a tired smile lit her face; honestly, she loved children, she just didn't think that she would ever be adopting three in her home. Granted, she'd also agreed to housing Rayne Strife, who would be bringing in a steady income and helping hand, but it was all still a little overwhelming for her. Cloud pitied the kindhearted woman.

"Well, my house needs to be remodeled," she admitted softly, withholding a flinch as Leanne screamed in rage. "So it's going to take a couple of months before we can head down to the city; although, I don't think you'll like it much down there."

"Beats staying up here with _him,_ his _wife_ and his hellhound of a _son_." Cloud noted nastily, jerking a thumb towards the sounds of breaking glass. Leanne was definitely pissed off at her husband.

"_He_ is your little brother, Cloud," Jeddah reprimanded with a wet cough, though she withered under the glare Rayne gave her.

"_Half-_brother," Rayne stressed as her eyes narrowed. "And please, Mrs. Lockhart, mind your own damn business." Cloud nodded whole-heartedly in agreement with her mother, despite the annoyed glare Tifa shot her. After all, she'd never held much love for Mrs. Lockhart, especially as she'd once tried to keep "that trashy girl" away from her daughter. "And Cloud, I know it's a little much to ask you, but please try to keep the peace and harmony while we're here. I don't want you trying to argue with Rufus Shinra or Mrs. Shinra about her treatment of me."

"I wouldn't have anyway, because I think you deserve it," Cloud admitted with a lidded glance, making Rayne's mouth click shut. "Don't think I've forgiven you for this, _mother_. Quite frankly, we wouldn't be here if some_ improper lady_ hadn't of run off from Midgar to save face in the first place." Many uncomfortable looks were passed throughout the room at the words, though only Tifa was the one to speak up, even if it was in the privacy of their own minds. _:Dun ya think yer bein a lil harsh on her?:_

_:No,:_ she admitted, sipping at her cooling tea. _:Mom did a very bad thing, Tifa, very bad. Then she ran from her problems instead of accepting them and trying to move on; I'll never let her live it down. Especially as she always harped on __**me**__ about being improper!:_ A bitter curl touched her lips at the thought; she'd waited for years to get back at her mom for those comments; granted, she knew that the woman would come from her slump and beat her ass for her treatment eventually, but Cloud was definitely planning on tossing it in her face until she did.

_Definitely._

"When will we be going to school?" Cloud broke the uncomfortable silence, taking out her notebook. "I would like to get everything scheduled so that I can find out what to do with my free time." And she had to check how much money Shinra would be lavishing on her; she could already see the closets full of clothes that she would be forced to wear…Hmm, she wondered if Shinra would keep the receipts…

"Who says _you'll_ be going to school?" The young and arrogant voice caused many heads to turn to the door, where a young Rufus Shinra stood glaring at the people inside. "_My_ father doesn't just let _anybody_ join in my exclusive lessons."

"Newsflash," Cloud stated without even looking up. "He's _my_ father too, Hellhound." Rufus's face pinched in annoyance, both at the name and the fact that he was now sharing a daddy.

"Yeah, well…at least _I'm_ not a bastard," he snapped, sending a nasty glare to a suddenly tight lipped Rayne. Cloud felt her face pull into a frown as the others tensed, annoyance coursing through her. Not because of the bastard remark, she'd grown quite use to that one in the last life, but because the little shit was talking bad about her mother. Granted, she was still mad at the woman, but the only ones who had a right to talk bad about her was Leanne Shinra and the little blonde girl sitting at the table with her. "Not so mouthy now, are you?" Rufus stated smugly. "After all, we may share the same father, but you're the one who has a whore for a mother."

"Well, I can't disagree there," Cloud mused loftily, eyes cold though she didn't turn around to face him. "However, my mom may be a whore, but what does that make yours?" Rufus blinked along with the others, though Aerith was shaking her head rapidly. "I mean, _obviously_ your mother knew that Shinra was sleeping with my mom, but instead of doing the _smart_ thing and leaving him like _my_ mom did, she chose to stay with him." A nasty grin touched her lips as she turned to the younger boy, who was flushing quite heavily now.

"Oh, Cloud," Aerith whispered, failing to withhold an amused grin. "Don't say it." Tifa began to giggle, making the adults stare at them strangely as Cloud innocently tapped at her lips.

"So, if my mommy's a whore for sleeping with a married man and having a bastard child, then your mommy must be a _stupid,_ money grubbing, _rich_ whore for sleeping with a man who was sleeping with everyone else and having a Hellhound for proof. Does your stupid rich whore mommy dote on her precious Hellhound of a son?" She cooed mockingly. Rufus looked stunned as Aerith and Tifa began to laugh at him, his face reddening as Cloud turned around in silent dismissal. _:Cloud, you're horrible!:_ The Cetra chuckled.

_:I couldn't help myself,:_ the blonde admitted with a smug smile as the young boy stormed out of the room in disgrace. _:I've never liked that slimy little bastard.:_ After that event, it was obvious to everyone that Cloud and Rufus would not be getting along anytime soon and, to be perfectly honest, Cloud preferred it that way. She already had a younger and an older sister to take care of, both of who would grow up to be ten times better than whatever Rufus could ever hope to be, though that didn't stop Shinra from trying to make the kids get along.

As such, the first two weeks spent locked away on the upper floors of Shinra HQ were rather strained.

The main cause of the strain, to the surprise of no one, was Leanne Shinra who, despite having her own floor to live on, was constantly around a rather annoyed Conrad Shinra. Obviously, she did not trust that Rayne wasn't trying to rekindle an old flame to take her off the high pedestal she now sat upon. Cloud couldn't help but feel rather sorry for her; after all, Leanne was worried about the wrong woman. It was Cloud who would be taking all of her power away.

However, much to everyone's surprise, Cloud found that it was rather easy to get along with the bitter woman, especially after _The Incident._ It had been on the third day of being locked in Shinra's tower when said man and his wife had decided to join Cloud's family for dinner. Shy Elmyra and Obviously Guilty Rayne were the only two adults there as The Only One Dumb Enough to Play Mediator Jeddah had finally been taken to the hospital, and no one really noticed the silent Turks and grunts hanging around anymore as they wouldn't interfere anyway.

Thus, when Shinra brought his wife to their dinner, Cloud couldn't help but groan in silent dismay. _:There goes the peace,:_ she lamented to Aerith and Tifa, who both sighed and nodded in agreement.

_:Well, at least they had the decency to leave Rufus behind,:_ the Ancient mused after a moment.

_:Aerith,:_ Cloud none too gently burst her bubble. _:I highly doubt that Shinra was planning to bring __**anyone**__ here with him; look at his face! It looks like he's been caught with his hand in the cookie jar!:_ Indeed, Shinra looked rather flustered as he subtly tried to release himself from the strong hold his wife had on his arm. Tifa burst into laughter and Aerith quickly joined her, earning them strange looks that they ignored.

Besides, people would learn to get use to it.

Of course, it didn't take too long for Shinra to get to the reason he had come to their room, which was to try to _bond_ with his oh so special daughter, and the meal naturally snowballed from there. "So, Cloud," Conrad began after forcing his way past small talk and snipes from his wife to Rayne. Cloud actually felt a bit of grudging respect for the chubby man for his stubbornness. "I noticed that you have a lot of books in your luggage; what do you plan to be when you grow up?"

"Well," the blonde shared a look with Aerith and Tifa, making the youngest one burst into giggles at the thoughts of exasperation she sent. "I _was_ planning on being a scientist, but I don't want to do that anymore."

"Really?" Shinra wondered, somehow making the word seem curious despite the obvious fact that he didn't really care. "Did you know that Rayne-" He winced as his wife's sharp clawed hand grabbed his "-use to be a scientist?"

"Yes, though I only found that out recently," Cloud lied. After all, her mom had pulled her aside a few days ago for some one and one and went through a lot of soul searching with her, finally revealing that she use to work as a scientist for Shinra. But Cloud had known that from conversations she'd heard in the womb. Still, the blonde had already forgiven her mother for a few things, and it had taken her a few years of helpless childhood to forgive her for being a scientist. She just hoped that her mother wasn't involved in any strange experiments; that she doubted that she could ever forgive her.

"It seems you really take after your mother then," Shinra laughed, not even realizing the increase in tension at the words as Aerith slapped a hand over her head in disbelief. "I'm rather happy that you won't choose to lock yourself away in any labs. Smart, blonde and a rather attractive young lady; you'll grow up to be very beautiful! The world would be saddened to miss such a face!"

"Well," Leanne cut in with a poisonous smile and an obviously false chuckle. "Let's just hope that becoming a scientist isn't the _only_ wise decision she'll chose to not follow her mother in." Immediately, the air grew tense. Rayne's eyes narrowed dangerously, Elmyra straightened out her back with a scowl, Shinra's hand gave a spasm towards the knife on his plate, Tifa and Aerith gave the woman a glare, and Cloud's lips graced everyone with a beatific smile.

"Oh, trust me, Mrs. Shinra," the young five year old began, speaking before her mother could kill the woman for slighting her daughter. She had no problem when Leanne was speaking ill of her, but Cloud was a definite _hell no!_ "I'm smart enough to realize that there's no future to messing around with a married man; Karma is and always was a spiteful _bitch_ and all." Leanne gave an amused snort as the blonde reached for her juice and sipped it.

"Well, at least _someone_ in your family-"

"Granted," Cloud continued, smacking her glass none too gently on the table as she interrupted, her voice still sugar sweet and her lips still in a gentle smile. "I'm _also_ smart enough to realize that a man isn't worth it if he's cheating on me and isn't even trying to worry about making sure I don't find out about it. I'd like to think that I will be wise enough to not ever place myself in such a situation, but then again, I'm smart enough to know that I would never _lower_ myself like that.

"Because you see, Mrs. Shinra, I'm a respectable girl," Cloud's smile turned to pure poison as Leanne's hand clenched on her fork. "And I'm going to grow up to be a respectable woman, with a respectable _job_, that garners respectable money, and I'll never have to worry about trying to trap a rich man with a child in order to keep myself resting over a rich nest!"

Silence.

Everyone stared at Cloud in disbelief as her smile once again turned gentle and she reached back for her glass. "But surely, you had an inkling of this, Mrs. Shinra," she continued boldly, a smile on her lips as she took another sip of juice. "After all, you seem like _such_ a respectable woman." After that incident, Leanne had taken to going silent whenever Cloud entered her presence and the blonde had enough courtesy to do the same. The two didn't like each other, and Leanne still loathed her mother, but she was smart enough to realize that the only person that would be in the wrong for arguing with a child was her.

As delightful as that was, her son did not get the memo, and he brought nothing but a headache every time he came around. Cloud Strife did not like Rufus Shinra, and Rufus Shinra hated Cloud Strife, a feeling that would most certainly turn to loathing whenever Conrad Shinra would finally get around to telling the obnoxiously spoiled boy that he was no longer Shinra's Heir. Rufus Shinra was a smart child, however, a smart child that realized that his father was doting a little too much on this new child to be comfortable. A new child that was his half-sister, and an older half-sister at that.

As such, Rufus Shinra hated Cloud Strife because he felt threatened by her. She was smart, she was pretty, and she was charming employees left and right. He only knew this because those same employees often talked about the "charming young girl" that they didn't yet know was Shinra's daughter, and with every sentence heard his insecurities and fears would eat at him until he focused them into anger and sought Cloud out. Granted, he didn't know that Cloud knew this, which was why he also didn't understand why it was that everyone considered Cloud smart.

For you see, Cloud didn't feel she had anything to prove to little Rufus, and as such she came up with a method that would get the little shit to leave her alone within minutes of being around her. All she had to do was make Rufus feel secure about his position and he wouldn't seek her out as much. And it worked, too, it worked so well that Rufus thought she was a complete dumb ass, especially after she revealed she was from Nibelheim. And Rufus was constantly confused as to why no one else could see this.

One of her favorite times of convincing the boy of her stupidity had been on a day that Shinra had finally given them a television. It was just her, Tifa and a silent Turk in the room as Rayne was in the Slums looking for a job (she refused to work for Shinra when offered), and Elmyra had taken Aerith to go take care of her neglected flowers. This left Cloud with the responsibility of teaching Tifa about how television worked, though she warned the young girl about getting too addicted to shows and had instead turned on the news.

Newscaster Bailey Durden was just talking about a serial killer that was suspected to be hiding out beneath the plate in Sector 3 when Rufus barged in, his face red with jealousy and spite. It more than likely had something to do with the 72'' plasma screen T.V. that Shinra had bought specifically for Cloud, or the one hundred thousand dollar bank account that had been opened in her name, or even the new five thousand dollar wardrobe that had come in for "daddy's burgeoning princess," but the blonde didn't feel like speculating. As it was, Rufus was pissed, and he knew exactly who to take that anger out on.

"I'm surprised that idiots such as yourselves were able to turn on the T.V., let alone work the remote, Strife." He sniffed imperiously and shrugged a hand off his shoulder as his exasperated nanny finally caught up to him. Tifa shot him an annoyed glance for ruining the silent lesson Cloud and Aerith had been giving her through their minds, even as Cloud rolled her eyes in disgust. "Of course," the oblivious boy continued, eyes skating across the television to see what they were watching. "I'd be even more surprised if either of you actually knew what a serial killer was."

"Of _course_ we know what a serial killer is," Cloud stated matter-of-factly, pinching Tifa's side as she almost laughed aloud at Aerith's suggestion on what to say. "_Obviously_ it's a person that goes around killing everyone's cereal."

"Duh," Tifa rolled her eyes for extra effect, though it was mainly so that she wouldn't burst into giggles as the stunned look of shock on everyone's faces. "Mr. Belby was one in Nibelheim; dun be such a dum'ass, Ruffess." Said boy's eyes twitched indignantly that the country bumpkin still couldn't get his name right, even as his nanny's shoulders were shaking in silent laughter behind him.

"You two are so…so…!" In disgust, the blonde tossed his hands into the air and stormed out, leaving the two girls to collapse in laughter at his retreating back. Honestly, he was so easy to fool!

"Ya know," Tifa began once sure the little hellhound wouldn't hear her. "Ah aw'ways thought Ah'd love havin a brother, but Ah dun think Ah want one after Rufus; he's such an _idiot!_" The irony in that statement caused the two to burst into giggles, even as their watcher smothered a smile unsuccessfully.

Of course, Leanne and Rufus weren't the only problems that Cloud found herself dealing with, as the Press had eventually sniffed out rumors about the little girls Shinra had brought in. Theories of scandals began to run rampant in the newspapers and the chunky man was sweating to come up with a good statement to not ruin his career. Once again, Cloud found herself coming up with a solution to the new problem, though it most certainly wasn't in the way anyone expected.

It all started shortly after Shinra finally gave them a list of all the classes they would have to and could choose to take for school. Cloud was already making a list of how to divide her time and funds to future side projects while Aerith and Tifa were discussing what they wanted to do. Rather, Aerith was encouraging Tifa to take up more business related courses and self-defense classes that the Turks were providing them. The blonde had been bent over her papers for a while before she noticed that something seemed strange.

Tapping her lips, Cloud allowed her eyes to roam the room, wondering why she was feeling ill at ease. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Her mother was discussing her new job with Elmyra, Aerith and Tifa were filling out their forms for school, the usual Turk guard was blending in neatly with the background…So what on earth was nagging her? _Nagging…_Glowing eyes narrowed in thought.

Yes, that was the problem.

Rufus had yet to show up to nag at her. Granted, the little hellhound could have been held up somewhere, but Cloud highly doubted it. Despite his young age and lack of abilities, Rufus had gotten rather crafty at breaking away from his nannies and Turk guards to harass his half-sister whenever she got something new. Wouldn't do to let her think she was special, after all. Thus, face pulled into a frown, Cloud closed her book up and passed it along to Aerith, telling her that she would be back soon.

Walking the halls of Shinra Inc. wasn't the most fun thing in the world; quite frankly, the place was boring. Whoever was hired for decorating had obviously gotten rather bored of designing when he reached anything past twenty floors, for they all practically looked alike. Many of the places that Cloud could recall seeing in the future had yet to be built, which gave the floor a lot of space and hardly any place to hide, which probably explained why it was so easy to spot the suspicious looking man headed quickly for the elevator.

Curiosity at its peak, Cloud followed after him, taking a good look while at it. The man was wearing a large overcoat that made him look a bit fat, but his legs were too skinny for such a thing to possibly be true, not to mention he was breathing a little hard and shifting his back occasionally as though he was adjusting a heavy backpack. Blonde brows cocked in suspicion as there was a squeak and the man cursed under his breath, before he placed his hands in his jacket and moved around a little.

The squeak turned into a squeal.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" The man whispered furiously, his brow sweating heavily as he quickly looked around. His panicky eyes alighted on the small blonde after a moment, before he sent her a nervous grin. "O-oh! I didn't see you ther-"

"This floor is for authorized personal only," Cloud intoned suspiciously, holding out her hand at once. "Please, allow me to see your Keycard." He began to sweat harder, his eyes glancing over to see what floor the elevator had reached; it was stopped on level 23.

"Oh-of course!" He licked his lips, a gloved hand shakily coming out of his jacket to dig through his pocket. Much to Cloud's surprise, he produced a legitimate and well worn Keycard, and the face upon the picture matched his own clearly. "T-there you go, lit-little girl!"

"I've seen this picture before," Cloud muttered to herself, looking over the name in thought. Keith Barrington, Shinra Executive, Science Department, High Security. Where on earth had she…? Suddenly, the blonde looked up, eyes narrowed as the man began to run without warning for the stairs. Of course, she wasn't having it. Perhaps it was slightly overkill, and she was still surprised that the man hadn't jerked his legs off at the abrupt stop, but Cloud had never been happier that she always carried her materia with her. Stepping gingerly over the ice on the floor, the blonde reached for the downed and groaning man, unzipping his coat before he could get his bearings.

Unsurprisingly, she found Rufus Shinra strapped to the man's back.

The hellhound was bound and gagged, he also looked rather sick and frightened as Cloud mercilessly banged Keith's head against the floor until there was blood splattered on the wall. Of course, she only did it to make sure he stayed down while the blonde untied Rufus; it wasn't like she did it on behalf of the little freak...who clung to her with wet eyes and whiny hiccups…and was shaking in shock…and reminded her of little Denzel after waking from a nightmare, still believing he was cursed with Geostigma…

With a sigh, Cloud decided to stop lying to herself as she forced Rufus to turn towards her, shaking him roughly to snap him from his shock. He looked surprised to see her. "Rufus," she barked, making him jump as he appeared to be locking up with shock again. "Rufus Shinra, look at me!" The little boy obliged her, still shivering violently. "Go to my room; go get my guard and tell him what happened. I'll stay here with this guy. Do you understand?"

"No," he answered, or perhaps protested? Cloud's lips pulled into a frown.

"Rufus," she snapped, before making her voice gentler as he flinched. "Rufus, this isn't the time for us to not get along; forget our grudges and move your ass, got it?"

"No!" He repeated desperately. The blonde resisted the urge to sigh dramatically as he began to shake his head. "No, no, no, no, no-!"

"No what, Rufus?" She shouted, shaking him roughly again. But the boy didn't say anything else, making Cloud scowl. She didn't want to, but she knew she had no choice but to do it. _:Aerith, listen to me without interruption, please,:_ she began. _:I'm at the end of the hall by the stairs, there was this guy here attempting to kidnap Rufus, Rufus has gone into shock. Get the Turk to get his ass out here because I can't leave Rufus with this man's body; I kinda went overboard on it. And I know it sounds wrong, but try to get the Turk here in a way that makes it seem accidental; I really don't want them to know we can communicate like this.:_

_:Understood, Cloud,:_ Aerith's serious voice answered back. _:Please, make sure Rufus isn't injured; the shock could be harmfully related.:_ With a frown, Cloud stared over the shaking boy, cursing herself silently for not thinking of that. However, Rufus appeared to be fine; no injuries at all, just a bit of blood on his clothes…

_:Blood?:_ Glowing eyes narrowed as Cloud roughly grabbed Rufus's shirt, staring over the blood on it. It was too dry to belong to the downed Keith. "Shit," she swore, looking up into Rufus's eyes. "Shit, _shit_! Rufus, where's Leanne? What happened to your nanny?" A gasp of shock reached her ears, turning her to see a wide eyed Turk and Aerith, who's hand was covering her mouth. "You, Turk, call for backup! Aerith, take care of Rufus!"

"Cloud wait-!" But the blonde ignored the shout, small legs rushing as she headed to the room Leanne insisted that she keep, right down the hall from their own. There wasn't anything about the door that said that anything foul had happened inside, but when Cloud opened it, she saw nothing but destruction. Broken glass, a ripped up bed spring, expensive perfumes splattering the wall and, the worst, a large puddle of blood flowing from a cutup and desperately gasping Leanne, who's neck was slashed open repeatedly.

Cloud felt her eyes widen in disbelief as she did a quick search of the room, wondering who the hell the man was that had managed to do this. After all, much as she hated him, Shinra's security for the floor was at its highest! His family was fucking living on the level, after all! Where was Leanne's bodyguard? Where were the security that was supposed to be watching the cameras? Where was Rufus's nanny? Despite her inward panicking, the blonde was already kneeling gently on the floor, materia glowing as she began to cast.

First was Stop as she temporarily froze the suffering woman, then Regen to help heal her wounds as she focused her magic into Full Cure. The stench of blood was heavy in the air as she worked, hearing cries of alarm behind her as Leanne's neck slowly repaired itself despite the Mastered Materia aiding her. This let Cloud know that whatever knife she'd been cut with had poison in it, making her quickly check her pockets for an Antidote; thankfully she always took to carrying some as she didn't really trust Rufus not to try something to Tifa.

The moment Leanne was in the clear, two medics brushed by the now tired blonde to check over her work, words of impression leaving their lips even as they put the still frozen Leanne in a stretcher. Cloud dropped the Time spell at once to make sure she was breathing steady, releasing a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when the antagonistic woman turned out to be in mint condition. But that just left her to once again ponder the odd situation.

How did such a strange and suspicious man make it past security, with a legitimate Keycard even? How did he manage to get to a highly guarded floor with no one stopping him? Where were Leanne's bodyguards? Where was Rufus's nanny? Of course, by the time the floor managed to be clean and a shaken Rufus clung desperately to a slightly concerned Cloud with all his strength, she couldn't help but feel a fool for not realizing it sooner.

Aerith huffed lightly as she came into the room with her, softly pushing aside the two kids glued to Cloud so that she could rest her head in the blonde's lap. The room was dark with only the soft glow of the television illuminating, though both of the only ones left awake paid close attention to the low news report. Keith Barrington's face was plastered on the screen, the same killer that had been suspected of hiding in the Sector 3 Slums; how the hell did he get the gall, time and funds to get his ass all the way up to the top floors of Shinra Inc. without being caught?

_:Shinra hired him, didn't he?:_ Aerith's voice trickled through her mind, making her give a short, jerky nod that made the two kids glued to her murmur in discontent. _:__But why?:_ She wondered hesitantly. _:I'm not too surprised about Leanne, I kind of figured he would do something like that to her, but Rufus?:_

_:Perhaps the man deviated from the plan?:_ Cloud's question was more to herself, really. _:Maybe Shinra hired him to take Leanne out of the picture because he thought it would make me happy? Possible, but I highly doubt it. Want to know what I think?:_ The brunette nodded, staring at Cloud intently as she brushed a hand through Rufus's hair. _:__I think the bastard did it for himself. You saw how he's been looking at my mom; how can anyone miss what he isn't trying to hide? But with Leanne in the way, and her son left as a reminder to everything that I should have been, how would he possibly get back in my mother's good graces?:_

_:Cloud,:_ Aerith's brows furrowed, _:you don't really think-?:_

_:I call it like I see it,:_ the blonde frowned, looking down at the sleeping Rufus intently. _:What use would Rufus have after his mother is dead, Aerith? It's rather obvious that none of us care about him, especially mom, and after that he's nothing more than a hindrance to spend money on. What use does Rufus have now?:_

_:Oh, Cloud…: _The Cetra blinked suddenly moist eyes as she peered up at the frowning Cloud, forcing the tears away. _:But that wasn't everything, was it?:_ The blonde tensed lightly. _:Come on, boyo,:_ Aerith rolled her eyes. _:I've known you for many timelines; I've gotten pretty good at telling when you're holding something back from me.:_

_:Cheater,:_ she mumbled, even as her spine relaxed its rigid stance. The short and playful atmosphere vanished as quick as it came, leaving her frowning again. _:Aerith, that man, Keith Barrington…he had a Keycard on him; A legitimate Keycard that looked rather well worn too.:_ Her frown deepened. _:It said he worked in the Science Department.:_ The Ancient gasped.

_:You don't mean-?:_

_:Wait, let me finish.:_ Dread pulsed behind Aerith's eyes as she nodded, though the words said next nearly caused her to jump to her feet to pace. _:He gave me his card with a gloved hand.:_

_:You think he's an experiment of the Science Department?!:_

_:It's possible. But why Rufus? What could he possibly want with him?:_ The Ancient drew in a disbelieving breath at the question, eyes going wide in shock. This time, she really did get up to pace.

_:Of course, it all makes sense!: _Actually, it didn't, at least not to him. Aerith shot him a look. _:Think about it, Cloud; Rufus is useless to Shinra now. He's not his heir, he doesn't contribute to your happiness and he's become a financial burden. However, he is useful to the Science Department, because one child of Shinra's already possesses a gift that could lead them to the Promised Land, so what about the other?:_ The more she spoke, the more Cloud felt herself go pale with realization.

_:But from the way things look, it's not Shinra's genes that caused a connection with Gaia; after all, why hasn't Rufus shown any signs yet? How long before they conclude that it must be something to do with the Strife's?:_ A migraine was definitely pounding beneath the blonde's bangs. _:I wouldn't be too surprised if I turned out wrong and this whole thing was Hojo's idea. One thing I know for certain, this is all **your** fault; we definitely have to make sure my mom will be safe.:_

_:Naturally.:_ Aerith nodded, before she shot her an annoyed glance as Cloud innocently looked aside. _:...__But what about Rufus and Leanne? We won't be here to protect them forever.:_

_:I'll think of something.:_

Of course, that thinking of something came a lot sooner than she expected and not in a way she was really planning it, considering Shinra Inc. was swarmed by reporters the next day. Looking out the window, Cloud's enhanced eyes could see the struggling Press trying to get into the building for a statement with Conrad, who basically pulled a disappearing act instead of dealing with it. It was as though a light bulb had went off as she quickly dashed from the room, sending a mental note to Aerith and Tifa to distract the guard who wasn't supposed to let her out of his sight.

Though she didn't want to, the blonde took the elevator, which thankfully was already on the floor as the Turk didn't take too long to break away from the two kids that had jumped on him. Despite there being a camera in the elevator, she pushed the emergency button and pressed for floor one, knowing that the elevator wouldn't stop on its descent now for anyone else. _What are ya gonna do?_ Tifa wondered curiously.

_:I'm gonna give a statement,:_ Cloud answered her. _:__I'm gonna give the Press some answers.:_

_:Are ya sure ya won't get in trouble?:_

_:Actually, I'm almost certain I'll be in a lot of trouble after this,:_ she chuckled softly. :_But no one's going to punish me for it.:_

_:Be careful, Cloud,:_ Aerith whispered. The elevator gave a ding to announce its arrival at the first floor, making Cloud straighten herself out as the doors swung open. The entrance hall was packed full of noisy reporters, all who were tossing questions until it blended into one big jumbled mess. A line of Grunts were blocking them from getting to the stairs, even as an extra set of guards were placed at the top of the stairs for the bolder reporters that jumped across the railings. It looked like a madhouse.

Straightening her skirt, Cloud breathed in deeply before putting on a confident face and stepping forward, drawing attention almost immediately. The rowdy noise slowly died down as reporters got a look at her, before increasing in volume as frantic clicks of cameras started. "What are you doing down here?" One of the grunts questioned, breaking formation to head towards her as the other guards shifted in line to fill up his empty spot. "Please, head back to your room."

"**Stop**." The spell froze the man at once, making his eyes widen as she stepped around him to head over to the front desk. Thankfully, there was no longer anyone on duty, which meant the microphone on the desk was unattended. It took a moment for the other grunts to realize that something was wrong, but by then the sound of a young girl clearing her throat could be heard loudly throughout the room. "Excuse me, if I can just take a moment of your time?"

The reporters hushed at once though the cameras kept clicking, taking pictures of the bold young girl who was now standing on the desk, her glowing blue eyes focused intently on the crowd. "Thank you. Now, I'm certain that quite a few of you are here for questions that concern the fiasco that happened the night previous, just as I am certain that many of you are now wondering who I am. For the record, I am Cloud Shinra-Strife, daughter of Conrad Shinra." Disbelief went through the room, from grunt to reporter, before the room exploded into sound.

"Quiet!" The blonde snapped into the microphone. "If I don't get silence in here, then none of you will be getting any answers!" The effect was immediate. "Honestly, you're all human beings, please act like you have some sense!" Her face pinched slightly as she eyed everyone, before relaxing. "I will answer as many questions as I can _after_ I finish what I have to say.

"Now, as everyone here already knows, a man called Keith Barrington was able to break in and attempt to kill Leanne Shinra last night, as well as to kidnap Rufus Shinra, my younger brother. He was stopped, however, by my bodyguard, who saw the man and took immediate action." A small smile lit her face. "Thanks to the medical staff's quick response, Leanne was saved with no scarring and Rufus will be perfectly alright. But many of you are still wondering how he managed to break in in the first place.

"Such a thing was only made possible because of me." Her smile slowly fell as she heaved a heavy sigh, eyes going glassy at once. "Since coming here, I requested that daddy allow the security around us to lighten, because I am not use to being crowded so much. You see, until a few days ago daddy did not know that I was a Shinra. It was Aunt Lea who found this out after contacting us, as she and mommy were once good friends despite the fact that one was now an ex-girlfriend of her husband. When Aunt Lea found out that my mommy had a child with Shinra and had never told him, she got really upset and came to us to find out why.

"But you see, mommy had only kept my existence hidden because she didn't want to cause aunty any problems and wanted to keep the media from making my life a bad story." The tears finally fell. "She only did this because I requested it myself. But aunty forgave us and took us in anyway, even knowing that it would probably bring bad Press, and I was _really_ happy to meet my family for the first time, despite how nervous I was." Flash, click, flash; Cloud resisted the urge to rub her head in annoyance. "I've never had to worry about security problems, so I thought that having so many bodyguards around was pointless and I begged daddy to remove them; he did so after awhile.

"Because of me, many guards were sent home early for the past few days and security was rather light. Otherwise, there's no way that such a bad thing could have happened! And so, I want to apologize to Aunt Lea for this entire mess! And I want to apologize to my brother Rufus for putting him through this! If only…I had never come…" She sniffled pathetically. "I-I'm sorry…I can't…" The reporters were eating the lies up like sponges, gasps of surprise and sympathy leaving their throats as they watched the small, well educated and brave young girl break down before them.

Cloud resisted the urge to vomit.

People were so easy to play, especially when it involved little children. Escorted from the room by a silently surprised Turk, who had caught up to her somewhere in the midst of her speech but thankfully let her finish, she felt her sad face vanishing the moment they were encased in the elevator. Cloud wiped at her face to get rid of the tears that were sticking and wondered what else could possibly happen now.

She had stuck up for Leanne, making her out to be a kind woman who had accepted her with open arms and forgave her mother for her silence. She made Rufus out to be an innocent young boy, opting to forgo the half-brother as a sign of closeness. Made her mother out to be a silent martyr that wished the best for others and strived to make the best of herself. And made herself out to be a slightly shy and insecure young girl, who wanted to be with her family but didn't want to be hounded by the Press.

In other words, she'd done damage control.

"I cannot believe you managed to do this," Rayne Strife was looking at her daughter in a new light, eyes wide as she turned her attention away from the news. Cloud had her legs crossed as she watched, grateful that whoever had recorded had put the entire speech on the station, even as there was a sharp silence in the room. It was obvious that many people were wondering where she'd gotten the acting skills and the thought to lie so fluently to the Press, though many were attributing it to her being smarter than they'd thought. A genius, in fact.

The one who looked the most surprised was Rufus Shinra, as the young boy knew for a fact that she couldn't stand him or his mother, and he now had visual proof that all of the stupid acts she'd played before him were exactly that. And, though he didn't like that he'd been duped so easily, it was also easy to see that he was torn about what to do. Cloud had saved him and his mother and hadn't taken credit for it, even making it out to seem like the whole thing had been her fault when _everyone_ knew that she had nothing to do with it. In fact, Shinra was firing people left and right for even allowing such a thing to happen, though Cloud had a feeling that they were really getting promoted to new departments.

Still, no one knew quite what to say to her; it had been both an unnerving and impressive display of her abilities, abilities that they hadn't known she had. "Conrad is both stunned and grateful that you managed to do such a…nice thing," Rayne continued softly, looking at her hands to avoid staring at the daughter that she barely knew. "Though I don't know how Leanne is going to react to this." Of that, they had nothing to worry about.

In fact, Leanne was crying gratefully on top of the flummoxed blonde for saving her life and her reputation, even as she told them the real reason for the absence of a guard and a nanny. She and Conrad were getting a divorce; not only were they getting a divorce, but she had been planning on taking Rufus with her. Shinra had gotten angry and taken away her guards, considering she would no longer be his wife, and had stormed off a few hours before the man had come in.

Keith Barrington was once a Shinra Employee who was also one of her flings, and had been fired from the company the moment Shinra found out. The people he had been killing all had family that worked in Shinra, though they weren't that well loved considering they lived in the Slums, and he had been killing them for a bit of stress relief. The man had access to Shinra Inc. via Leanne herself, and she had never said a word of it.

Now, Cloud hardly believed a word she said, though she could sense some truth in a bit of Leanne's words. However, she could also see the fear in her eyes when she looked upon a tight lipped Shinra, who had decided to stay together after all because of the good Press. Cloud could see that Leanne had realized exactly what Aerith and herself had; Shinra had tried to take her out. It would be foolish to do such a thing now, however, considering Cloud had made the woman out to be an angel, and if she died so suddenly after these events then foul play was definitely involved.

Thus, in self-preservation, Leanne was trying to make sure Cloud really would see her as Aunt Lea, because it was obvious that Conrad would try again if his new and far more precious daughter didn't like her. None of the others saw this and merely assumed that Leanne had finally realized that the situation wasn't a child's fault, but Cloud and Aerith knew better. Perhaps the only other thing that was horrid about the new situation, at least in the blonde's eyes, was her new relationship with Rufus.

It had been fun pretending that she was an idiot to him, and she'd gotten a kick out of ruffling his feathers, but now it seemed the boy was unaffected by it. In fact, he'd taken to following Cloud around like a lost little puppy…a lost, sarcastic, egoistic, annoying, hellhound puppy. For you see, he no longer considered Cloud beneath him, but as an _equal_, and he was obviously trying to find out how to change that again, for he was still the heir to Shinra whether the man wanted to change it or not.

There was no way he would lose!

Sighing, Cloud shared thoughts of exasperation with Aerith and Tifa as she was pulled from her room by an excited Rufus intent on showing her the grounds. She couldn't wait until she'd be in the Slums.


End file.
